


In the Sun

by pumpkinpasties



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Canonical Character Death, Curse Breaking, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, First War with Voldemort, Friendship, Hope, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Maz is a bad bitch, Mazalina Carter, Muggleborn OFC, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Quidditch, Romance, Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, War, Young Sirius Black
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27997659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkinpasties/pseuds/pumpkinpasties
Summary: If asked, Maz Carter would tell you that the single best day of her Hogwarts years was when she graduated, leaving Sirius Black behind.Sirius Black would (dramatically) tell you that the worst day of his life was when he learned Maz Carter was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.When Maz and Sirius are reunited under dark circumstances, something had to change. It was bound to happen. But how much change is really possible?Fate has opinions.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter One

Excitement was palpable in the dingy basement that Sirius Black found himself on that mid-July evening.

James Potter stood to his left, with his arm wrapped around the waist of one Lily Evans. The redhead was making eyes at the young man, which baffled Sirius beyond comprehension. How James had managed to convince Evans to fall in love with him was a mystery to anyone that knew the pair. Remus stood on his right side, looking more exhausted than anything. Two days prior had been the full moon, and his body was still recovering from the grueling transformation. 

Peter was a few feet away, having made himself comfortable in one of two chairs in the large room. Marlene, though she often avoided Peter like the plague, was sat in the chair next to him. Well, ‘lounging’ might be a more appropriate word for what she was doing given that she was draped across the chair in a rather peculiar way. 

The group was uncharacteristically silent as they stood among the new crowd of people. Some faces were familiar – Emmeline Vance, who had been a year ahead of the Marauders, was chatting with Frank and Alice Longbottom. The Prewett’s, Gideon and Fabian, were telling a dramatic story to a small group of people unfamiliar to the group. Sirius was excited at the prospect of learning from those two, as he had heard that they were absolute legends at dueling.  
Settling in with a group of such regarded and skilled witches and wizards was going to be quite the adjustment for the friends. But Dumbledore had hand-picked them to join the Order of the Phoenix for a reason – they deserved to be there as much as the rest of the room. 

“How many more people are coming, do you reckon?” James murmured, eyeing the developing crowd. Sirius shrugged, trying to spot anybody that he may know. 

“I think this is almost everyone. Dumbledore said that the group is quite small.” Lily informed the boys, doing a mental count of how many people had arrived so far. 

It was at that moment that a door towards the left side of the room swung open, revealing Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and a young blonde-haired witch. 

The trio seemed to be in deep conversation, the young woman gesturing wildly as she explained something. The younger woman looked oddly familiar to Sirius, but he couldn’t quite figure out how he may know her. One thing he did know, was that she was insanely hot, and he definitely wanted to know her. 

Instead of robes like the rest of the members, she was wearing form-fitting jeans, a small and lacy tank top, and a black leather jacket. On her feet were a pair of maroon combat boots that looked wildly uncomfortable. A wand holster was strapped to her thigh, which Sirius thought was rather ingenious. Where most witches and wizards just tucked their wands away in their robes, hers was easily accessible at a moment’s notice. He wondered if she was an auror – they were always prepared for any situation at any given second. 

As she moved closer, Sirius noticed that piercings lined her ears, and one graced the right side of her nose. Though most of her skin was covered by her clothing, he spotted several tattoos already. They looked to be runes of some sort, and he wondered what they meant. 

When she took notice of his eyes on her, she sneered at him and then turned her attention back to the professors that flanked her. Sirius was taken aback by the attitude, unsure what he did to deserve it. They had to know each other somehow, for there was no other reason for her to send such a scathing look at him. 

Focusing in on her face, Sirius tried to place how he knew her. There was a high probability that it was from Hogwarts given her age, but her entire vibe was unlike anyone he had ever known. If he knew her from Hogwarts, she had changed everything about herself. 

“Oh my God!” Lily hissed, eyes wide as she caught sight of the woman that had captured Sirius’s attention. Marlene bolted up at the sound of her friend’s voice, looking around to see what she was freaking out about. Sirius watched as Marlene’s mouth dropped open in surprise, struggling to stand so she could rush to Lily’s side. 

“Is that Maz?” Marlene whisper-shouted when she successfully joined the cluster of friends. Sirius quirked a brow, eyes darting to land on the blonde witch. There was no way that that was Mazalina Carter – it wasn’t possible. Maz had been his worst nightmare at school – this woman was an absolute dream. But the way she had sneered at him... maybe it was her. 

“Definitely. I heard that she became a curse-breaker after graduation.” Lily told Marlene, who had tugged the redhead away from James’s side. Normally James would protest such a thing, but his focus was wholly on Maz. Sirius elbowed him and they exchanged a concerned look. James opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get it out, Dumbledore spoke. 

“Follow us to the meeting room, if you could.” His voice was soft, and he flashed a gentle smile. The room became a touch disorganized as they filed into the room behind the elder wizard. 

Sirius was hardly focused on the bustle of the room, still caught up in thought about the presence of Maz. He cringed when he realized that he had been briefly attracted to her. The long golden locks, bright red lipstick, piercings, and tattoos had set a fire inside his soul. That, of course, was through with now and ruined by her personality. Sure, she was insanely hot now but that didn’t matter when one considered how strong their rivalry was. 

Mazalina Carter was a bitch. Well, if you asked Sirius Black anyway. Ahead of the Marauders by only two years and a Gryffindor, the Marauders had been quite familiar with her. Sirius and James, in particular – she had been their Quidditch captain for two years and she had hated them. Who could blame her? They were absolute pains in the ass, especially when trying to lead them in any way. Though they had both taken Quidditch quite seriously, practices had always been a nightmare. 

Potter was constantly daydreaming about Lily, while Sirius was easily distracted by the gaggle of girls that followed him around. The ego on that idiot was baffling to her, and she did not have the patience for it. 

Though he hated to, Sirius could admit that Maz was an incredibly talented beater. As the other beater on the team, he had had to co-operate with her more than others. Begrudgingly, he would admit that they worked well together on the field. Off the field? It was easy to imagine a world in which they would kill each other. 

He had no idea why she was there. How could someone so bossy and rude be on a member of an organization to take down evil? She was evil. 

“Good evening. Our first order of business tonight is an update from Miss Carter.” Dumbledore spoke as everyone settled into their seats. Maz smiled and thanked the headmaster. Clearing her throat, she launched into her update. 

“Last night, a family of goblins was murdered just outside of Nottingham. As a Dark Mark was cast above the home, we can definitively say the deed was done by Death Eaters. Though the goblins are neutral at this time, I do believe that this will further sway them to join us.” There were murmurs among the room of those wondering why a family of goblins had been targeted. “Earlier today, I encountered Avery and Mulciber. Idiots that they are, I overheard them loudly discussing Voldemort’s plans to recruit a pack of werewolves that reside in Thetford Forest.” Her eyes flickered to Remus when she mentioned werewolves, which made him shift anxiously in his seat. 

Sirius noticed this and proceeded to narrow his eyes threateningly at Maz. Was it possible that she knew of Remus’s lycanthropy? Would she say something to someone about it? Sirius’s glare intensified as these thoughts raced through his head. If she noticed his icy stare, she certainly did not acknowledge it.

“Have you any idea when they are making their move?” Frank Longbottom piped up from his place next to his wife. 

“This weekend. Apparently, Avery, Mulciber, and Selwyn will be tracking the pack with Fenrir Greyback. We are going to reach the pack first and attempt to sway them to our side.” Maz spoke as she began digging through her purse, which the room quickly realized had an Extension Charm put on it. It was almost comical seeing her shoulder-deep in the small bag. After several moments, she found what she was looking for and tugged a folded map out. With her wand, she stuck it to a wall that everyone could see.

Sirius studied her as she circled a section of the map, that was apparently of Thetford Forest. Though on first sight Maz looked entirely different, ghosts of her seventeen-year-old self could still be seen. Maz was rather short but Sirius knew she was not to be underestimated. At least half the people in that room had seen her take down men three times her size with ease and grace. Her face, when he really looked, had remained quite the same though she certainly looked more adult. When she was turned to face the map, a smirk grew across his face. Leaning toward James, he elbowed him gently. James, who had been enraptured in what Maz was saying, startled at the touch.

“Still got quite the arse, doesn’t she?” Sirius murmured, causing his friend to snicker quietly. Lily leaned around her boyfriend to smack Sirius upside the head, having heard his crass words. The scowl she gave the two boys silenced them, both turning their attention back to Maz.

“My contact at the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures informed me that this particular pack resides here – just north-west of center of the forest. There are anti-muggle charms on that part of the forest.” She points to the area she had circled. “They tend to be aggressive when approached according to my contact, but I think I know how we can avoid that.” 

“And how is that?” Sirius demanded, wondering if she was planning on using Remus to gain their trust. The look Maz gave him was frigid and annoyed, as though he had no right to be speaking. 

“That information will be kept private to my team, which you are not part of.” She paused, waiting to see if he would challenge her further. When he just silently glared, she moved on. “Lupin, Prewett’s. See me after the meeting.” Taking her seat, Maz took the opportunity to send Sirius another nasty look which he returned happily. He knew for certain that she was using Remus now. How could she possibly know about his lycanthropy? That was a highly guarded secret. 

The rest of the meeting passed quickly, with limited updates from other members of the Order. Sirius was rather frustrated about Maz using Remus, so his attention was not necessarily focused on what was being said. Remus was like a brother to him – no way was he letting the Order use him for something that caused him so much pain. The meeting ended with Dumbledore assigning tasks to a few members for the next week, and Sirius wasn’t even annoyed when he didn’t hear his name called out.

“Professor!” Sirius jogged after Dumbledore as he moved to exit after calling the meeting to an end. Dumbledore paused, a knowing smile on his face.

“I am not your Headmaster anymore, Mr. Black.” Sirius waved him off, impatient to get his words out. Though he was almost desperate to give the older man a piece of his mind about Maz, he knew this wouldn’t be productive. 

“Sir, I was wondering if I might tag along with Maz. I think it would be a spectacular learning opportunity for me.” Translation: Sirius did not trust Maz as far as he could throw her and wanted to make sure she didn’t push Remus past his limits. He would be damned if he let Remus get hurt by the likes of her. 

“If Miss Carter agrees to this, I do not see why not. After all, she is a wonderfully talented which and you have much to learn outside of the walls of Hogwarts.” Sirius wanted to scoff at this, silently questioning the man’s sanity. There was no way Mazalina Carter knew more than he did about magic. All she cared about when he knew her was Quidditch and herself. 

“Thank you, sir!” Dumbledore patted the young man on the shoulder, a twinkle in his eye.

“I will speak with her after she is through with our friends over there.” He nodded toward the corner of the room where Maz was speaking with Remus and the Prewett brothers. Remus was fidgeting anxiously, though he was nodding like he was confident and ready. Most would not be able to catch on to Remus’s mood aside from Sirius, James, and sometimes Peter. The boy could be a bit dense when it came to emotions at times.

“I can’t thank you enough. I... I’m really looking forward to learning from Maz and the Prewett’s.” He had to bite back a scowl when he said her name. Dumbledore smiled knowingly as the young man walked away, heading towards his unoccupied friends. As soon as he reached them, the three boys and Lily erupted into angry whispers. 

Dumbledore was no fool. Oh no, he knew exactly what Sirius Black’s motives for going on Maz’s missions were. Their rivalry had been quite an issue when they were at Hogwarts, and he was sure it was not going to be easily forgotten. No, he knew Sirius wanted to go on that mission to keep an eye on his friend. And no, he didn’t think he need to. Mazalina Carter was, after all, one of the most talented members of the Order and he trusted that she would lead the mission well. But sometimes, two young people so convinced they are enemies need a push in the right direction. Sometimes, ‘enemies’ are much more than that.

After all, there is a thin line between love and hate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick intro! Hi, my name is Kate! I am twenty three years old, Canadian, and queer 🌈 ✨❤️ I am a long-time Harry Potter lover! I have been privately writing fanfiction for years but have decided it’s time to share. 
> 
> I will give the disclaimer that I do not own Harry Potter or any characters associated with the series, but I would like to take a moment to say fuck jkr!!! Transphobia has no place in feminism. Trans lives matter. I refuse to blindly support an author that thinks otherwise. 
> 
> Please feel free to give me any feedback about my works. Can’t wait to hear what you think <3


	2. Chapter Two

Nothing could have prepared Maz enough for the news that the Marauders were joining the Order of the Phoenix. When Minerva had informed her of this, she had protested greatly with the argument that they were far too immature to be a part of something so important. Her objections had been met with explanations of their new maturity, and dedication to the cause. 

If it was just Lupin, she could have dealt with it. He was smart, quiet, and kind which she rather appreciated about him. Yes, he was involved with the pranks the boys had pulled at school, but at least he had some sensibility. Hell, she could have lived with Potter and Pettigrew joining up. They were major pains in the ass, but at least she knew how to deal with them. Pettigrew would behave with a single look, given how nervous she made him. Potter could be controlled by threats of telling Evans that he was causing problems, which would damage his chances with her further. But Sirius Black? 

Sirius Black was chaos. He was a wildfire, completely out of anyone’s control and destroying everything in its path without discrimination. He was a thunderstorm, loud and unpredictable. Like a tornado, perhaps, sweeping up everything around him with reckless abandon. 

Maz lived for chaos, which was perfectly demonstrated by her career choice. Exploring ancient and sacred sites where improperly breaking a curse could result in extremely painful death was not exactly a relaxed job. Wandering into a place where you could be flayed alive by dark ancient magic did not appeal to those who were not stupidly brave with a love for chaos. 

But Maz could not deal with the human embodiment of chaos. No, no. At least in those tombs or temples, she knew what she had to do to prevent herself from facing harm. It became predictable once you were skilled enough. Sirius Black, though... He was an unpredictable entity. He lived for mischief and fun, with little regard for the rules or anything else. Captaining him in Quidditch was a nightmare – the idea of him following orders was laughable. 

Which is why she freaked out when Dumbledore asked her to let him tag along on her mission. 

“Are you fuc... Are you kidding me? No! He’s a bloody maniac, Albus.” She exclaimed quietly, face settling into a deep frown. The old man just smiled gently at her before gesturing for her to look around the room. 

“Mazalina, you are one of the most talented witches in the Order. Quite an accomplishment for a twenty-year-old, yes?” Maz let out an impatient sigh, unsure where he was going. 

“I suppose, but what does that have to do with him?” If Dumbledore noticed her frustration, he ignored it entirely. 

“Your talents should be shared with younger members, Miss Carter. I believe Mr. Black could learn much from you.” He paused to look at her over his half-moon spectacles. “And you from him, I’m sure.” It took everything for Maz to not laugh in Dumbledore’s face. Sirius Black? Teach her something? What a ridiculous notion. 

“He’s going to ruin my mission. He’s reckless.” Something akin to a smirk graced the old wizard’s ageing face. 

“Ah, yes. I am aware that Mr. Black is... Enthusiastic. But I do recall a young bullheaded witch joining the Order some time ago. Interestingly enough, she is a senior member and leads her own missions regularly now.” The stare he fixed her with was expectant. Maz wanted to stomp her feet and pout like a petulant child but thought better of it. She knew he was talking about her, and she was annoyed. If he thought Black had potential, then maybe she ought to listen to him and take him along. 

“Fine. But he’s apparating back if he causes any issues. And I'm holding you responsible if something goes wrong.” A quiet, gravelly laugh fell from the older man’s mouth. 

“You do amuse me so, Miss Carter. Good luck.” The pair shook hands before the headmaster wandered out of the room. Maz huffed an angry sigh, shooting a glare at Sirius where he stood with his friends. 

“Maz!” Lily Evans called out, she and Marlene beckoning her to join their group. Everything inside Maz wanted to ignore the two and walk away, but she did like the younger girls. The way Lily had constantly rejected Potter and kept him in line was something she admired. Unfortunately, it did look like she had given into the moron’s incessant advances. Marlene was just generally badass and one of the only openly queer women at Hogwarts. Something like that took a lot of bravery – Maz wished she had had that much courage back in those days. 

Slinking over, Maz flashed Lily and Marlene a reluctant smile. But then Potter grinned devilishly at her and the urge to hit something set in. 

“Alright, Carter?” He asked, receiving a warning look from the redhead cozied into his side. Lily may have fallen in love with James, but that didn’t mean she was blind to his bad habits. 

“Oh, just lovely, Potter. I see you’ve somehow convinced a woman galaxies out of your league to date you.” Lily blushed at this, surprised that the blonde before her thought so highly of her. Potter’s grin dropped, and he opened his mouth to throw an insult back- 

“Carter, could I please speak to you?” Sirius spoke up, voice as cold as ice. Rolling her eyes, Maz turned to look him up and down. 

“No.” She turned to face Lily and Marlene. “How are you two doing? You look so good! I’m excited that you’ve joined.” Lily and Marlene began chattering excitedly, telling her what she had missed in their lives over the last two years. Sirius tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for her to finish with the stupid small talk. 

“Carter, now.” Sirius realized his mistake as soon as the words left his mouth. At school, Maz had only refrained from harming him because she would have gotten in trouble for it. In the real world, though, she could hex him to her heart’s content so long as she didn’t seriously hurt him. When Maz’s eyes turned to him, narrowed in absolute fury, he had a feeling that the only reason she wasn’t cursing him was the amount of Order member’s in the room. 

“I said no, Black. I’m not interested in whatever it is you have to say.” She turned to Remus. “Catch him up on the plan for this weekend. I’m going home.” With that, she turned on her heel and stomped towards the exit. Silence fell over the group as she made her dramatic departure but was broken by Marlene. 

“So... Drinks, anyone?” The group mumbled their agreement and began discussing where they could go. Sirius’s eyes were fixed on the door that Maz had just exited through. 

“I’ll pass tonight.” Five sets of eyes watched him storm off, certain that he was about to do something idiotic. 

And idiotic his plan was, indeed. 

\-- 

“33 Charing Cross Road!” Maz threw her floo powder down, bracing herself for the nauseating form of travel. She loathed travelling by the floo network, but it was the easiest way in and out of their current headquarters for her. 

Appearing in her London flat moments later, Maz dusted herself off. She wondered to herself why no one had ever figured out how to rid the floo network of soot – it was a magical form of travel, it had to be possible to make it cleaner. 

Before pouring herself a strong drink, Maz tossed her jacket over the back of her kitchen chair and kicked her boots towards the door. Though her parents had offered to rent her a bigger apartment, Maz was satisfied with her little one-bedroom apartment. The space was cozy but had enough room that she was comfortable. 

When she moved from the kitchen into the living room with a glass of whiskey in hand, Maz was prepared to let loose for the evening. Instead, she was greeted with her fireplace roaring to life, and one Sirius Black stepping out of it. 

“What the fuck!” Maz dropped her glass in surprise, fumbling to grab her wand from its holster at her thigh. Sirius quickly grabbed for his, to fend off what was a warranted attack. Quicker than him, Maz disarmed him before he was able to yell out a protective charm. Backing him against the wall next to the fireplace, Maz dug the tip of her wand into his throat. “Why are you in my house?” She demanded, knowing he must have followed her upon hearing her shout her address. 

“I wanted a word, Carter. You can’t just ignore me.” Sirius ground out, straining back in an attempt to get away from her wand. 

“And you can’t just invade my home. It’s completely inappropriate that you showed up here.” Maz took a step back but made no move to lower her wand. She wasn’t above cursing him if he annoyed her too much – this was her own home, after all. 

“Well, I think it’s inappropriate that you’re using Remus to cozy up to a pack of werewolves!” Sirius bit back, becoming braver now that she was farther away. Leaning down, he snatched up his wand and shoved it into the pocket of his slacks. 

“Are you fucking kidding?” Maz laughed at his words before tucking her wand back into its holster. Apparently Black was nothing more than a stupid child, meaning she had nothing to worry about. “Remus is an adult. Dumbledore asked him if he was comfortable with this before tonight’s meeting, Black.” 

“How did you even know about him being a werewolf?” Maz snorted at the question and walked into her kitchen to pour herself a new glass of whiskey. Sirius moved to follow her, but she waved her wand, and he found himself stuck to the ground in front of the fireplace. The last thing she wanted was him wandering around her small apartment and learning anything about her. The fact that he could see her bedroom from where he stood was uncomfortable enough. Sirius groaned loudly and tried to remember the counter-spell for a sticking charm. 

“It isn’t hard to put together when he was away every full moon and your lot called him ‘Moony’. Quite a transparent nickname, don’t you think?” Returning to the living room with a glass in hand, Maz made herself comfortable on her couch. Sirius couldn’t move until she decided he could, so she may as well relax. 

“There’s no way you’ve known and haven’t told everyone. Don’t you live to ruin the lives of other’s?” A deep scowl had fallen onto Sirius’s face, while Maz was becoming rather amused. 

“Contrary to what you believe, Black, I am not a terrible person. Remus is entitled to his privacy. The only reason it is coming up now is that it can be used to help take down Voldemort.” Sirius didn’t believe for one second that there was truth behind her words. She probably had some sort of ulterior motive that he wasn’t telling her. 

“Well, you shouldn’t be doing this regardless. Remus has had to suffer with this since he was a child and you shouldn't be exploiting his condition.” That idiotic posh pureblood voice had come through, and Maz could have punched him in the mouth. He was so fucking pretentious. 

“You’re not his guard dog, Black. You’re adults now. He doesn’t need you to protect him.” Maz snapped, standing up to get back in his face. Sirius, whose arms were still free, shoved her backwards so she was a few feet away. Maz had half a mind to put him under a full body-bind curse. 

“He is my friend. Friend’s take care of each other. But I suppose you wouldn’t know what that’s like.” Trying very hard not to be offended by his words, Maz rolled her eyes and bit back any hurt. 

“I have plenty of friends. I just like to take care of myself because I'm not a child that needs to be taken care of constantly.” It was the truth. Maz was self-sufficient, and even though it was often lonely, it worked for her. 

“No. You have a shitty personality, and nobody wants to be around you.” Sirius claimed wildly, clearly trying to get under her skin before she inevitably kicked him out. 

“Sure. And you’re childish, and petty, and don’t have any concept of what the real world is like. You are not ready for what the Order entails, Black. Are you ready to watch your friends die? Are you ready to throw a killing curse if you have to?” Sirius’s face blanched some, her words knocking some reality into him. "You may want to protect Remus, but war means doing things we don't want to. Remus knows that his condition can be used as an asset and he knew that before he ever agreed to join the Order." Perhaps her tone was a bit harsh, but she didn't care. She needed to show him that she didn't care what he had said about her being friendless. Maz found her lack of attachments to be an asset while they were amid a war- she could throw herself into the Order and not worry about how it would impact those around her. Yes, she had family, but they were tucked away with no way for anyone to connect them to her. Sirius had weak spots, people he loved – any connection like that was easy to exploit and the Death Eater’s would do exactly that. 

Sirius was silent for a moment, but then bristled at the thought of Maz getting the best of him. 

“Absolutely. I know what I signed up for, Carter.” Maz waved her wand, muttering the counter-spell at his stuck feet. 

“I don’t care. Now, get out of my home.” Voice flat, Maz dismissed him with the wave of her hand. Sirius grumbled, wanting to yell at her some more but ultimately turned to leave. “Oh, and if you plan to come this weekend? We’re meeting here on Friday at four. Come ready to camp.” With that, Maz walked into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. 

Sirius stood, dumbfounded, for a moment after Maz had exited. When he agreed to sign up for the Order, he had known that death was a possibility. Voldemort and his followers were not exactly shy about how much they liked to torture and kill. But he had never stopped to consider that he could lose everyone he loved because of it. Or that he may have to stoop to their level to protect himself or others and end a life. Killing would weigh on his conscience, even if it was required. 

Shaking his head of the thoughts, Sirius grabbed a handful of floo powder and readied himself to depart. 

After all, it was likely that he wouldn’t have to think about such things for a long time.


	3. Chapter Three

Ending up in Greece for three days was not how Maz had planned to spend the end half of her week. 

But alas, a lot of her colleagues were rather useless and called her in whenever they found themselves in a pinch. When a co-worker had lost a hand due to an anti-theft curse in the treasure room of a temple, Maz had been called in to finish exploring. Served him right, she had thought upon getting to the temple. The man, Grier, had been working as a curse-breaker for years and somehow didn’t see the rune etched into the doorway of the treasure room. 

When she arrived home early Friday evening, she realized that she barely had time to pack before her team would be meeting her at her home. She would have preferred to have left Saturday morning, but she wanted to get a head start against the Death Eaters. They were meant to use a portkey to the outskirts of Thetford Forest, and then travel to the pack by foot. Her rationale for this was that they would likely be Mazer off with the werewolves smelling their arrival gradually, over them popping up out of nowhere. 

In a panic, Maz began tossing things into her bag with an extension charm on it. Though it was unlikely that they would be gone beyond Sunday morning, she packed as many water and food rations as she could. As it was July, she packed light clothing for the days and warmer clothing for the nights. Her tent was already in the bag, as she had been using it while in Greece. 

When she checked her watch, she realized the group would be arriving in less than fifteen minutes. Groaning, she stripped in her bedroom and practically threw herself into the shower. Covered in grime from work, there was absolutely no choice in the matter. The four men would simply have to wait for her once they had flooed in, which she would sure they would be fine with. 

The warm water was like heaven after days in a dusty old temple. Rolling her eyes, she wondered how Grier was stupid enough to miss such a simple curse. She should never have had to go to that temple, especially since the man had been in the job for ten or so years. Scrubbing her body, she thought about the benefits of getting called away on a job like that. Her pay doubled when she was in the field, and she also got treasure bonuses. That trip, Gringotts had allowed her to take a charmed locket home. When she figured out what it was charmed to do, she would either keep it or sell it off for a pretty penny. Given that she had taken it from a temple dedicated to Mania, she was sure it had some sort of charm to induce insanity when worn. 

Quickly, Maz finished cleaning herself and used her wand to dry herself off. Dressing herself in a pair of warm jeans and a light sweater, she was essentially ready for the mission. She hoped to Merlin that this would be a simple one, with no interaction with the competing Death Eaters. It could be good experience for Remus and Sirius to see actual combat, but she would rather teach them in a more controlled environment. 

As she walked into the living room, tugging her hair into a tight braid, the fireplace lit up with green flames. Remus and Sirius appeared, bickering quietly as they stepped into the room. God, the two of them were like an old married couple sometimes. When they spotted Maz wandering into the room, they fell silent and stared at her. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her bag from the couch and strapped it over her shoulder 

“You guys can sit. The Prewett’s should be here shortly.” The boys shuffled over to the couch and wordlessly sat down. Remembering she still had a few things she needed, she wandered back into her bedroom. Hopefully she could trust Remus to keep Sirius from exploring the small space. 

When she returned to the main room with a handful of knives and straps, Sirius and Remus’s eyes went comically wide. 

“Why do you have those?” Sirius demanded, eyeing her as she strapped a rather large hunting knife to her hip. 

“Magic isn’t always reliable, Black. It’s good to have a backup.” She swung her leg up and rested it on the leg of the couch. Rolling her pant leg up, she strapped a sheathed dagger just above her ankle. Sirius looked as if he thought this was somehow humorous, and not a grave matter. 

“As if you could ever get the drop on a Death Eater with a Muggle weapon.” He spoke, a laugh falling from his stupid mouth. It was at that moment that the fireplace lit up and the Prewett brothers appeared. 

“I’ve seen her disarm and incapacitate at least half a dozen Death Eater’s with those knives of hers.” Gideon commented while brushing soot from his clothing. 

“He’ll be eating those words when she saves his ass one day soon, won’t he, Gid?” Fabian chirped, moving to muss Maz’s hair. Ducking out of the way with a laugh, Maz gently shoved the man away from her. 

“I’d place bets that she’ll have to save him on many occasions, Fab.” Sirius scoffed at these words, annoyed at the implication that he would need saving by Maz. As if – he would probably be saving her, given her stupid Muggle knives. Maz, however, found this thought quite amusing and had continued laughing. Why was she being so cheery now that the Prewett’s had arrived? Sirius wondered if she had a thing for one of the brothers. 

“Are we going to go?” Sirius interrupted their joking, quite impatient to be going. Maz’s laughter stopped abruptly and she turned to face Sirius, an angry glint in her eye. 

“The Portkey is set to leave in a half hour. We’re going to discuss our plans first.” Voice stiff, it was clear that the woman was annoyed with the younger man. Sirius visibly deflated at this, looking like the idea bored him half to death. Maz bristled when she saw this and was only calmed by Gideon’s hand on her shoulder. Clenching her fists, she took a moment to calm herself down before inviting Gideon and Fabian to take a seat. 

The map of Thetford Forest was stuck to the mantle above the fireplace, with a few different points marked and highlighted. Remus had been studying it quietly, trying not to get involved in the tension between Sirius and Maz. Their dynamic was confusing and unpleasant for anyone who tried to intervene. Though he knew Maz had a bit of a temper, he thought she was generally kind and insanely smart. Her intelligence was proved by how well thought-out her plan for the mission was. 

Maz had taken a lot of care to learn about what would create a positive interaction with the werewolves. Approaching on foot instead of appearing out of nowhere would calm the pack and let them adjust to their scents. Having a werewolf who was not a member of a competing pack would gain some trust and put their minds at ease. Wisely, she had brewed and bottled large batches of Murtlap Essence and Calming Draught to present as a peace offering. As someone who knew the kind of pain and turmoil in the days after a transformation, Remus knew that the pack would be appreciative. Listening to her speak made him confident that this would be an easy first mission. 

“Tonight, we will only travel about fifteen kilometers into the forest and then set up camp for the night. I have created a schedule for keeping watch overnight. Remus, you will be keeping watch with Fabian for the first three hours. Black, you’re with Gid for the next. I will do a shift by myself towards the morning.” She paused and pointed to another spot on the map. “It is my goal to have us to locate the pack by five tomorrow. We should be able to cover the estimated twenty-five kilometers left from where we set up camp.” 

“Sounds good, boss.” Gideon mock saluted the young woman, all too happy to take orders from her. She may have been one of the youngest members of the Order, but she was incredibly talented and highly respected. 

“If we are attacked, try to seek higher ground. That will give us an advantage. Sirius and Remus, let us take point if that happens. If things get too hairy for you, get out of there. We can handle ourselves. I would rather you get to safety and out of the way, than stay behind and get someone killed because you didn’t know what you were doing. It’s harsh, but that’s the reality of all of this.” Maz let her eyes scan across the rest of the group, seeing if they had any questions or concerns. When they landed on Sirius, she found him fiddling with a ring on his finger and not really paying attention. Anger shot through her at this, finding his inattentiveness frustrating. If he didn’t know the basics of their plans, how were they supposed to succeed? 

“Sirius.” Remus mumbled, jabbing an elbow into his friends' rib when he noticed the look that Maz was giving him. Straightening at once, Sirius flashed a charming smile towards the angry blonde. This seemed to infuriate her further, and she looked as though she was preparing to launch into a lecture. Gideon and Fabian exchanged a look, knowing how rocky it could get when Maz was this mad. 

“You need to pay attention to the things that I am saying. I am in charge in this situation, and you need to respect that.” It was a surprise, but Maz was trying to keep her temper in check. She didn’t want to start their mission off on a bad note, though it seemed to be going that way. She was willing to try for patience with Sirius if he was willing to listen to her instructions. 

“I can’t help that you’re making this all sound so dull. You’re just as dry as you were back in your days as Captain.” The three other men in the room were openly gaping at the stupidity of what Sirius had just said. A potato could see that Maz should not be antagonized further, and yet, Sirius seemed intent on doing just that. Maz stomped over to the spot where Sirius sat and crouched so that her face was directly in front of his. The act was almost infantilizing, and Sirius shifted anxiously, realizing that he may have made a mistake. 

“Let’s get some things straight, Black. You are in the real world now. This is not Quidditch. This is life and death. This is about saving our world from a Dark Wizard intent on killing off innocent muggles, muggleborns, and so-called blood traitors. This is not fun or exciting or something to make light of. If you want to survive this war, you better shut your mouth, check your ego, and learn how to listen to me. Because when we’re out there? Someone isn’t simply throwing curses to harm; they’re trying to kill you. Get that through your thick skull.” Sirius gulped, unable to look away from Maz as she pierced him with a sharp look. Through her speech, her voice had remained level and calm, while her eyes had flashed with pure anger. She was deadly serious – she would not have anyone dying under her watch if she could help it. 

“Alright.” He mumbled, finally casting his eyes away to look at the ground. Embarrassment burned through him at being called out in front of other Order members. But... Her words had hit him hard again, and he realized that he may have deserved the talking to. That didn’t make it any less annoying that it came from Maz, though. Merlin, she was insufferable. 

“Let’s go then.” 

\--- 

The group was silent as they trekked through the forest, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. Maz was leading up the group, with the Fabian at the back to make sure no one got off track. To her delight, Sirius had remained quiet since they left her home and looked rather introspective as they walked. She hoped he had taken her words to heart. Hopefully they would not have to fend off any Death Eaters while they were there, but she needed him to be ready for it to happen at any moment. 

“How’s work, my dear?” Gideon appeared next to Maz, casting a small smile down at her. The younger Prewett brother had taken a shine to Maz when she had joined the Order, and the pair were rather close despite their age gap. 

“I was forced to go to Greece this week because my dumbass colleague got himself cursed.” Maz murmured back while she scanned the forest for any sign of danger. Gideon almost laughed aloud at her bitter mood. 

“Oh, poor you. You had to go to Greece. How awful.” Maz shot him a fake glare, but broke and laughed after a moment. 

“I was hoping to do more prep for this mission this week.” She explained quietly. “But Grier had to go and get his hand cut off.” Gideon made a face at this, wondering why Maz loved her work so much. The idea of risking loss of limbs and life for some silly treasures seemed ridiculous to him, but to each their own, he supposed. 

“Are you seeing anybody right now?” The question threw Maz off – she usually kept her love life private. She supposed she could share with Gideon and shrugged. 

“I’ve been seeing someone I met through work, but I don’t think it will last much longer. I’m too busy. You?” A small smile graced Gideon’s face and he launched into a tale about his newest girlfriend. Though he was a chronic dater, Maz had never seen him talk about a girl like this. Maybe he had finally found someone he could spend his life with. 

A few feet behind them, Sirius was scowling and grumbling about something under his breath. Remus kept casting curious looks at his friends but kept getting distracted by twigs snapping nearby. Deep sniffs told him that it was just small woodland creatures, and they need not worry. 

“What do you suppose he’s saying that is so funny?” Sirius asked, just above a whisper, eyes fixed on the pair in front of them. Remus looked at Maz and Gideon, who were joking about Maz’s dismal love life from what he could hear. Not that he would tell Sirius that – it wasn’t their business, but Remus couldn’t help his heightened sense. 

“I don’t know. Why? Are you jealous?” Remus smirked at his friend, who scoffed and punched his arm. 

“Gross, shut up. I’m just annoyed that she’s so friendly when she’s with other people! Is she only a bitch to me?” Remus rolled his eyes, wondering how someone who was arguably intelligent could be so dense. 

“She’s not a bitch. She just hates you because she only knows you as immature and flippant. Maybe if you proved that you’re more than that...” Sirius waved his friend off and the pair fell silent again. Remus was frustrated by this attitude. He rather liked Maz and hoped Sirius would not ruin his chance to work with her – she had a lot of knowledge that he was eager to learn. 

\--- 

Night had fallen only a few hours after their journey began, and they were exactly where Maz had predicted. Remus and Sirius were tasked with setting the tent up while the three senior Order members put up protective enchantments. Once they were concealed well-enough, Fabian began preparing the group a small meal to enjoy before they got some rest. 

Maz sat on the ground just outside the tent, studying the trees that surrounded them. Though she had led many missions before this, she felt completely underprepared and anxious about the outcome. Something felt off, and she wasn’t sure why. Overhearing mission plans was an uncommon occurrence; one that would normally have set off alarm bells. If it had anyone but Avery and Mulciber, she would have been concerned about this entire thing being some sort of trap. But she had known the pair well when they were all in school, and she knew they could not deceive for shit. They were brutish bullies with little to no intelligence. She didn’t think they were smart enough to be a part of a plot to ambush them. Regardless, she thought it best to be alert and on the lookout for trouble. 

The night wound down quickly after the group had eaten. Sirius, Gideon, and Maz headed to sleep, each grateful for the comfortable cots that the tent held. 

Maz was restless, concerned that something was going to go terribly wrong. Perhaps they should have made the mission a one-day ordeal instead of spending a night or more in the forest. But no, she had planned it as an overnight for a reason – giving the pack time to adjust to them on their territory was vital to her plan. From what she understood, the Death Eaters were planning on essentially ambushing the pack with the offer of an alliance. Having tact would win her team some favor, and they needed all of that they could get. 

Five hours later, Maz was being shaken awake by Gideon to start her shift as look-out. Though her sleep had been fitful, she was grateful for the several hours she had gotten. A drop of the Invigoration Draught she carried in her bag would solve any fatigue through the day, so she wasn’t overly concerned about her lack of sound sleep. 

Though Gideon offered to keep watch with her, she opted to go alone for the few hours. It would be nice to have some time alone to think. 

Sitting outside of the tent in the early morning air was the most at peace Maz had felt in ages. Sure, she was still incredibly on edge still, but the calmness of the forest was taking the edge off. For a moment she imagined that instead of being here to recruit soldiers, she was here to do something as simple as camping with friends. 

Knowing that Sirius was present broke that illusion though – the idea of them ever being friends was a joke. She could maybe learn to tolerate him for the sake of the Order, but never more. Merlin, he was such a pain in the ass. Even though she knew she had gotten to him with her rage-induced rant, she felt he still wasn’t taking this seriously as he should be. Dumbledore’s logic for recruiting new Hogwarts graduates to the Order was understandable, but did he have to pick the most obnoxious person possible? Sure, she knew Sirius had been a high achiever and that he was talented in many areas, but that didn’t mean that he was ready for the responsibility that came with joining the Order of the Phoenix. Perhaps she would have a word with Dumbledore and Minerva about the issue if she got frustrated enough. 

Tired of letting Sirius Black consume her thoughts, Maz stood to do a patrol of their small perimeter. 

Fate laughed at the bitter young woman’s efforts to get the handsome young man out of her mind. For Fate knew that one day soon he would be all she could think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I would let y'all know that while this fic will be mostly focused on Sirius and Maz, I am going to explore characters like James, Lily, Remus, Peter (as much as i would love to ignore his existence, there is a reason he was a Marauder), and Marlene in interesting ways. I think it's often hard to conceptualize what their lives were like during the war and I really want to give them stories. All of these are just my interpretations and imaginings of what life was like for these people! <3


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Violence and Death
> 
> Hello! I hope you enjoy this update. Let me know what you think!

Hiking was one of the finer things in life and Maz had always thought so. The woods were quiet, the air was cleaner, and there was a lot of wildlife that you would never see in the city. It was a peaceful experience and Maz loved it. 

But not that day. Oh, no. 

That day, Maz was about ready to strangle one of her companions if one more word left his stupid mouth. To be honest, it was quite impressive that she had been able to keep her temper under control for as long as she had. The Prewett brothers were hovering near her, trying to keep Sirius separate from her. The pair had quickly noticed that if the pair were too close to one another, Sirius would do something that bothered Maz beyond comprehension. 

They could admit that most of it was not that bad, but Maz seemed to be taking it all very personally. He was simply a young man with a heart of mischief. Nothing he was doing would jeopardize their mission, it was just maybe not the right place for it. Gideon and Fabian enjoyed their fair share of troublemaking but knew when it was inappropriate. 

Maz was slightly ahead of the group, stomping with extraordinarily little grace or tact. Sirius had charmed her boot laces to tie themselves together and she had taken a hard tumble to the forest floor. He had even had the care to cast a silencing charm when she fell so that her scream and the thud of her hitting the ground would not draw unwanted attention to the group. The moment had been rather amusing for anyone watching, but Maz was furious. The glare she had shot Gideon when he chuckled at her misfortune was nearly enough to petrify a man. 

“We’re getting close.” Remus called quietly, calming Maz down enough that she slowed to walk in a tighter formation with the group. The smell of the pack was overwhelming for Remus the second it had hit his nose. He had never been around other werewolves before, and it was easy to see that he was somewhat anxious. And it was about more than the pack – there was a chance that they would encounter Fenrir Greyback and that was sure to be unpleasant. Remus shuddered thinking about the man who had given forced him to lead a cursed existence. 

Sirius clapped his friend on the shoulder, trying his best to comfort the man. Remus did ease up, remembering that he was not in this alone. Every person there, especially Sirius, would help him through this. 

The sound of a twig snapping in the distance drew their attention. Sirius moved to draw his wand, but Maz shook her head vigorously. Turning to Remus, Maz whispered to him. 

“Is that one of the pack members?” Her true question was clear – Are we about to be attacked by Death Eaters or just aggressively approached by the pack they sought? He nodded his head after smelling the air. Remus knew Fenrir Greyback’s scent and would have recognized it immediately. “No wands unless it becomes necessary. They will immediately perceive that as a threat.” 

“Wise words from such a little girl.” A new voice chimed in from nearby. Maz whipped around to find a man leaning against a large oak tree. He was older; covered from head to toe in scars and angry red abrasions. Maz tried not to let her irritation at the title of ‘little girl’ show on her face. 

“Shall I presume that you are Mister Rose?” The man quirked a brow, stance relaxing just so. 

“Good guess, girly. Who are you lot?” His eyes had focused in on Remus, though his words were directed at Maz. Maz glanced at the younger boy, realizing that he was shrinking away and averting his gaze. Elias Rose was the alpha of the pack, and she was sure that it was a new feeling for the kid. 

“We’re here on behalf of the Dumbledore. Members of the Order of the Phoenix. My name is Mazalina.” Elias straightened; interest piqued. 

“Ah... Hmm. I was not sure Dumbledore, or the Ministry would pay us any attention in this war.” This was an understandable thought – werewolf packs were often an afterthought in the wizarding world. 

“We were made aware that the Dark Lord was going to try to recruit your pack. We wanted to beat them to the punch.” Elias laughed at this, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“I’m not sure why either side of this... ridiculous conflict would think that we would choose to have any allegiances.” A few other men and women had started appearing beyond the place Elias had stood; Maz brought her hand to rest casually on her hunting knife. 

“I completely understand why you would be reluctant. The Ministry treats you horribly. Voldemort and his followers view anyone like you as filthy half-breeds – which I disagree with.” She was quick to clarify when she saw the way Elias’s nostrils flared. “But we want to discuss why a partnership with us could be beneficial.” 

“We have no interest. Bring as many wolves as you want; we won’t trust you because he made the mistake of aligning himself with you.” Elias threw a sneer in Remus’s direction causing Sirius to curl his lip in what seemed to be a snarl. 

“I didn’t bring him here to parade that the Order has werewolves in its ranks. I brought him here because he is a very talented wizard, and I knew our approach would be better received if you smelled him with us.” Remus made a small noise of surprise in the first half of her sentence and she turned to look at him. “What? You thought I brought you just because of your lycanthropy? As if.” Her words were kind but the eye roll at the end was not. Remus mumbled a brief thank you and they all refocused on the man in front of them. Elias seemed to be in deep thought, studying the different members of the group. 

“We have Murtlap Essence. And Calming Draught. As a thank you, if you let us give your pack our pitch.” Remus finally piped up, feeling a little more confident after Maz’s words. Elias perked up at this, fingers running over one of the wounds on his arm. It was hard to get the ingredients for those potions out in the forest, which Maz knew when she selected them. Elias narrowed his eyes, still wary of the group. 

“Fine. Follow me.” 

\--- 

The home that the pack had set up in the forest was impressive. Large cabins had been built to house the sizeable group, and there were different buildings designed for different aspects of life. There were a ton of protective charms, as well as muggle repelling charms around the place. The pack may have been living in the middle of the forest, but they certainly weren’t living like it. They had what seemed to be a fully functioning little village. Several children ran past them, high pitched giggles bringing a smile to Maz’s face. This was a community, a family. The place was a safe haven for werewolves, who were too often cast out of wizarding society because of their affliction. 

Elias led them towards a large building, with a few pack members trailing behind. Maz assumed this was something they did as a form of protection, still not fully trusting them. She understood why – no witch or wizard had likely ever showed them kindness or empathy. She hated to be disturbing their peace at all, but she hoped that it would be worth it for everyone involved. Catching the attention of Voldemort enough that he had sent Death Eaters to recruit them meant that they would be involved no matter what. She only wanted to convince them it was the best course of action. 

While Maz was thinking through these complex issues, Sirius was staring daggers into her back. If you asked him, the entire thing was shady. Seeing this community had tugged on his heartstrings, and he felt it was morally problematic to be interrupting the life they had built here. They were a massive family who had escaped from a world that hated them to live out a peaceful existence. Involving them in a conflict that had nothing to do with them felt wrong. 

Inside of what seemed to be a meeting space, the group sat around a large table. As promised, Maz handed them the many bottles of potion she had brought for them. Elias’s eyes were wide as he took inventory of the gift. 

“This is enough to last at least four months.” Brewing this much of those potions would have cost a great deal. 

“I wanted to bring more, but it only has a shelf life of a few months. I’ll bring more when I can.” Maz smiled apologetically, settling into the chair across the table from Elias. Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, suspicious of how easily she seemed to be charming Elias. Surely someone who was so awful could not be acting genuinely. He would bet that it was all some ploy to get these innocent people to join a war they wanted no part of. 

“Thank you. This is... helpful.” With a gesture of his hand, a young man and older woman came to collect the various bottles. “I’m not sure what you’re hoping for. There is not much that can sway us to join you.” Maz nodded her head in understanding, hands folded on the table in front of her. 

“While you joining us would be the ideal outcome for this meeting, it is not my only reason for coming.” Now this statement shocked all four of the men who had accompanied Maz. To their knowledge, the only reason they were there was to recruit. 

“Oh?” Elias quirked a brow, wondering what exactly she could be talking about. 

“Mr. Rose, your pack has caught the attention of Voldemort himself. I am sure it is because your numbers are so great. Loyalty from a pack such as yours would be a good thing for him.” Maz took a deep breath and leaned forward. “I don’t require you to join us. I don’t beg you to a part of our army. All I ask is that you refuse their request to join them. That refusal will gain you protection from the Order as long as it is necessary.” A pin drop could be heard in that room; everyone was shocked into silence. Elias cleared his throat, trying to find the right words. 

“And how does that benefit your Order at all?” Maz shrugged, trying to ignore the confusion that was palpable in the air. 

“If I’m being honest, it doesn’t. Whether you join them or not, we are going to be the victorious ones in this war. The Death Eaters are coming here today, more than likely. When they get here, they are going to threaten and intimidate you. Your instincts are going to be to join them, to protect your pack. Anyone would do that to protect those that they love. I am here to give you an alternative. The chance to refuse them without putting your community at risk.” There were hushed whispers in the room from the pack members until Elias hushed them by simply holding a hand up. 

“I am curious – does Dumbledore know that you have presented me with this offer? Your companions are too shocked for them to have known.” Elias smirked when his eyes fell on Sirius, who was openly gawking in Maz’s direction. 

“Yes, he knows. I insisted that this was necessary if we had to interrupt the life you’ve made here.” Before Elias could respond to this, the door to the cabin flew open to reveal a pretty young woman. 

“Elias, there are more outsiders approaching from the east. They apparated in a few kilometers away. Leo saw a Dark Mark on one of them.” Maz’s eyes fluttered shut as she huffed a sigh; it seemed that conflict was going to be impossible to avoid. Elias’s eyes were wide with panic and he looked over to Maz. 

“Hide everyone away. We will take care of them, so you hopefully don’t have to deal with them at all.” If they got to the encampment and things went south, the situation could easily turn into an attempted massacre. Their numbers were great here, but they seemed to have a lot of young with no way to protect themselves from magic. Maz wanted to neutralize the enemies before they had a chance to get there. Elias nodded and started barking out orders to the pack members around the room. Maz stood and gestured for the four men to crowd around her. 

“We are going to head east and cut them off before they can realize that they’re close to the encampment. Stun them if you can; we can bring them to Dumbledore, and he can turn them in to the Ministry.” Her eyes focused on Sirius and Remus. “Are you two ready for this?” True to their Gryffindor roots, both young men were ready to fight. Stupidly brave, she thought; they had no idea what battles like this could look like. But of course, she couldn’t fault them – she too was a Gryffindor and often did idiotic things in the name of bravery. 

“Of course, we are.” Sirius was very blasé about the situation, but she could see some anxiety in his body language. In truth, he was also a bit shocked that they were about to rush into this fight; Maz had never seemed the type to protect complete strangers to him. Perhaps she was not as callous as he thought... but no, it must have been a tactic to gain the trust of the pack so they would pledge allegiance to the Order. He didn’t believe she was capable of genuine human kindness. 

“Great. We’re going to flank them and hit them with everything we’ve got. Let’s go.” 

\--- 

The fight had started out completely normal – well, as normal as fighting four Death Eaters could be. Maz and the men certainly had the upper hand; Avery and Mulciber were quite the idiots, though that was made up by their unimaginable cruelty and willingness to kill. Greyback and Selwyn were older, and more talented than the younger men, thus presenting more of a threat. 

The instant that they had ambushed them, deadly curses were being thrown around like they were nothing. A section of the forest was on fire, and Fabian’s arm had been burnt quite badly. Blood ran down Remus’s back, where Greyback had decided to tear a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. Though he was in pain, he prevailed and kept throwing spells at the Death Eaters. All things considered, they still had the upper hand within the battle. 

It all went downhill when a disarming charm meant for Sirius hit Maz, throwing her wand about twenty feet away from her. Unfortunately for her, it was right next to Greyback who grinned when he saw it. Locking eyes with her, he stomped down on it and snapped it clean in half. Groaning, Maz ducked when he cast the Killing Curse in her direction and rolled behind a tree. Now completely wandless, Maz had no choice but to grab the hunting knife from her belt. She loved the thing, but when curses were flying around, it wasn’t exactly the best weapon. 

Peaking around the tree, Maz found that Fabian had captured Greyback’s attention to give her some to figure out what to do. Selwyn had his back to her, now locked in an intense duel with Sirius. The look of determination on Sirius’s face was almost admirable – if she didn’t despise his entire existence. Gideon and Remus were working on Avery and Mulciber, who were loudly taunting Remus. The pair had been in school with the Marauders, and found the entire situation amusing. 

“Hey Black! Your brother sends his regards, eh?” Mulciber called over his shoulder, effectively distracting Sirius from the issue at hand. Maz’s eyes went wide as he turned his face towards him, his face a mask of pure rage. He moved to attack his old classmate – a critical error. Maz scrambled to her feet, unsure what the best course of action was. Nobody else was paying attention. Sirius was going to be hit if he didn’t refocus but then Selwyn was raising his wand, pointing it at his opponent, and- 

“Avada K-” The blade of Maz’s knife met some resistance when she plunged it into the back of Nigel Selwyn, but effectively stopped the curse from leaving his mouth. As he fell to his knees, Maz yanked her blade from his back and leaned down to snatch the wand out of his hand. Sirius watched her with wide eyes, in disbelief as she sheathed her blade. Maz was shouting, but it had faded into a buzz as his eyes found the now dead Selwyn sprawled across the ground. Dead. Dead, a man was dead because of them and he didn’t know how to feel. What if he had a family? What if a child was waiting for him to come home and hug them? What if- 

“Black! Get it together!” Maz had made her way over to Sirius and was throwing curses at Mulciber, who had turned their attention to them. Shaking his head, Sirius became acutely aware of his surroundings. Remus had joined Fabian in his fight against Greyback. Gideon was dueling Avery, easily deflecting every curse thrown his way. Maz was stood in front of Sirius, protecting him from the spells Mulciber was trying to hit him with. 

“You saved me.” Sirius called to her as he jumped into action, throwing curses towards Mulciber. 

“Yeah, but now is not really the time to discuss!” Maz yelled back, falling to the ground in order to narrowly dodge a stream of red light that he recognized as the Cruciatus Curse. Sirius aimed his wand at the ground in front of Mulciber. 

“Bombarda Maxima!” The forest floor exploded, sending the Death Eater flying into a tree behind him. His head smacked the wood and he fell to the ground, knocked out cold. At this, Greyback and Avery caught each other’s eyes and seemed to signal something. Avery sprinted toward Mulciber’s unconscious body, crying out but continuing to run when Fabian hit him with a stinging hex. The second he touched Mulciber, they disapparated to get away from the chaos. Whipping around, Maz found that Greyback was also gone. 

Panting, Maz let herself relax into the soil that she had fallen to when dodging that last curse from Mulciber. 

“Is everyone okay?” She called out, taking stock of her team. 

“More or less.” Fabian joked, jogging over to where they were. In his hand was Maz’s broken wand. Frowning, Maz grabbed it and studied it. Groaning, she realized it was going to cost a lot of money to have the wand mended by Ollivander. 

“Fucking Greyback. Absolute dickhead.” Pulling her bag off her shoulders, Maz tossed the wand inside. Pausing for a moment, her eyes trailed over to Remus. “Remus, come here.” The young werewolf started when he heard his name, clearly trying to put on a brave face despite the blood pouring out of the wound on his back. Forcing herself to her feet, she moved to study the injury. Cringing, she realized just how gruesome it was. Greyback had really sunk his teeth in; she would have passed out with the amount of pain he was in. 

“Is it bad?” He asked trying to look over his shoulder, crying out when the movement pulled on the injured skin. 

“Yup.” Maz turned to Fabian, who was studying the burn marks on his arm. “Fab, you and Remus should get to St. Mungo’s. You both need to be looked at.” Fabian nodded and paced over to the place where Remus stood. Clutching the younger man’s arm, Fabian apparated them to the wizarding hospital to receive treatment. 

“What about us?” Sirius mumbled, eyes fixed on the body a few feet away from them. Selwyn’s blood had slowly seeped into the Earth around him, in stark contrast with the dusty beige land he was on. 

“We go back to the pack.” 

\--- 

When Maz, Gideon, and Sirius showed up to the camp with a body trailing behind them by means of a levitation charm, Elias was surprised. 

“Where are your other men?” He demanded, rushing out of a cabin and into the clearing that they now stood in. 

“We sent them to the hospital. This is... One of the Death Eaters.” Maz let Selwyn’s body touch down to the ground, hoping that there were no young eyes watching from a window nearby. Elias took in the group, seeing that the three of them were in good condition. Though they were covered in dirt and some spots of blood, they seemed unharmed. Death Eaters had a reputation for brutality, so he was impressed that they had been successful. 

“Thank you for protecting us.” Elias paused, taking a deep breath. “Though I cannot commit my entire pack to fighting with you, we are happy to be loyal to your Order. I will fight if the time comes. I’m sure others will as well.” Maz gave the man a small smile. She knew that it was probably a tough choice for him, but it would be the best to stay safe. 

“Thank you, Elias. We do not take your loyalty lightly.” Maz drew Selwyn’s wand from its temporary home in her thigh holster. Touching the tip to her wrist, she murmured some sort of charm. Black ink appeared and curled itself into some sort of rune. Gesturing for Elias to step closer to her, she pointed the wand at the same place on his wrist. “This is a communication rune that I learned while training in Norway. It represents communication. If you press down on it, my rune will warm up and I will come here at once.” Maz explained while the black ink flowed onto the pack leader’s skin. 

“Thank you, Mazalina. I am impressed that a witch so young possesses so many talents.” Maz blushed at this, surprised to be receiving a compliment from such a stiff man. Once the rune had taken form on his skin, Maz tucked her wand away and shook Elias’s hand. 

“We should be going. I need to check on the rest of my team and figure out what to do with him.” She waved a hand at Selwyn as though he were a piece of garbage she needed to dispose of. The action caught Sirius’s attention and he felt his gut lurch. She was so carefree about the man she had killed less than an hour before. Sure, the man was a Death Eater, but he was still a human being. Killing him may have been necessary but it shouldn’t have been so seemingly easy for her. It sickened him that she didn’t seem affected by the act of taking a life and confirmed what he thought of her. 

Maz Carter was not a good person.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A nice long chapter today! 
> 
> Warnings: Descriptions of anxiety, panic attacks. Flashbacks to moments of violence. 
> 
> ENJOY!

Killing another human being was not an easy thing, but Maz was not about to cry in front of Sirius fucking Black. 

When the adrenaline of the fight had worn off, a sense of dread had overtaken Maz in a way that she was not ready to admit. Nigel Selwyn was not the first Death Eater that she had had to kill, and he certainly would not be the last. This was something that Maz didn’t like to think about often, not ready to process the things she’d had to do. 

When the team arrived at the Order headquarters, Dumbledore was waiting for them. Fabian must have sent a Patronus ahead of their arrival, for which she was grateful. The older man’s eyes settled on the body of Nigel Selwyn the instant they appeared in front of him. Though she was doing a good job of hiding it from the others, Dumbledore could see that she was beginning to panic about what had occurred. Even if Fabian had not already informed him of the battle, it was clear to see that Maz was the one responsible for the body that lay at their feet. 

“I see that today has been... difficult.” As always, the headmaster's words had been chosen very carefully. Maz had to dig her nails into her palm to stop herself from crying, too nervous to meet the piercing blue eyes of the wise old man. “Might I ask, were you successful with the pack?” 

“Yes.” Maz showed him the new rune on her wrist and he gave a wistful smile. Such a success was impressive and would help the Order, but it had obviously come at a high cost. He regretted that such a vibrant young woman had been put in the situation to kill. But warriors were necessary to win this war, and Maz was a brave warrior indeed. 

The façade of cold indifference that Maz had put on was beginning to crack. The tips of her fingers were going numb and it was clear that she was starting to hyperventilate. She knew Dumbledore was speaking to her, but his voice was met with deaf ears. Dread was flooding through her, filling every possible crevice it could find. It was almost as if the feeling was taking root in her soul, never to leave her again. Any fool would be able to see that she was falling into a panic attack. Well, except for Sirius who saw only the mask of apathy that she was forcing. 

“Mr. Prewett, please take Ms. Carter home, if you could. We can debrief after I have dealt with the Mr. Selwyn situation here.” Maz heard these words; she was unsure how long she had been tuned out completely. Dumbledore turned to Sirius. “As I understand, Mr. Black, our friend Mr. Lupin could use some company at St. Mungo’s.” Sirius nodded even though he was barely listening. His eyes were narrowed at Maz, who was now tucked under Gideon’s arm with a blank look on her face. There was definitely something going on with the two and he was inexplicably annoyed by it. Watching them walk towards the fireplace to use the floo network sent shocks of anger through him. Shaking his head, he assumed that it was just his hatred of her and his respect for Gideon butting heads in a very peculiar way. 

Fate was rather amused by such a silly assumption. 

\--- 

When Gideon and Maz appeared in her home, she stumbled out of the fireplace and into the kitchen immediately. Gideon cringed when he heard her vomiting into the sink, nausea getting the best of her. Patiently, he waited in the living room for her to return so they could discuss how she was feeling. He had seen her slowly crumbling since the moment she had stabbed her knife into Nigel Selwyn’s back. 

Maz, on the other hand, was waiting to hear Gideon leave before she exited the kitchen. All she wanted was to crawl into her bed and sleep until she had to leave for work on Monday morning. Using floo to travel had successfully jolted her from her panic attack, but she was left with the same feelings of guilt and anxiety. She wanted to sleep until something else could distract her from the emotions. 

“Maz. Talk to me.” Gideon found her sitting on the floor of her kitchen, knees pulled against her chest. Tears were crawling down her face, though it seemed she was trying to hold them back. 

“Go home, Gideon.” Sinking down to the ground to sit next to Maz, Gideon shook his head at her words. 

“Well, I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I just left you like this.” Maz shrugged, turning her head so he couldn’t look at her face. Gideon scooted closer to her, letting their shoulder touch to give her some sort of comforting touch. “We can just sit here until you’re ready to move if you want.” 

“Okay.” 

\--- 

It took an hour for Maz to be ready to move from the kitchen floor, and Gideon sat quietly next to her for that time. He had never seen her break down the way she had that day, and he was worried about leaving her on her own. 

“I need to shower.” Maz spoke softly, gazing at the dirt and streaks of dried blood on her hands. Gideon was surprised to see the blood, wondering how he hadn’t noticed it before. 

“Okay. Let’s get you up.” Gideon helped Maz to her feet, shocked when she pulled him into a tight hug. 

“Thanks for staying.” She pulled away quickly, never one for showing too much affection to her friends. “You should, er, go home. Check on Fab.” 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you if you’re not okay.” Maz shrugged and walked towards the living room to see him out. 

“I’m okay, Gid. Just tired.” Gideon seemed skeptical but didn’t want to push too hard. Maz was not a very open person, keeping a lot to herself. Forcing her to talk about something she didn’t want to was sure to start a fight. 

“Alright. I’m going to bring you lunch tomorrow. Just to check in.” Maz wanted to argue with the man but knew that it was pointless. He was going to show up whether she liked it or not. 

“Fine. I’ll see you then.” Deciding not to wait around while he flooed out, she turned away to head to the bathroom. 

“Hey Maz?” Gideon called to her as he grabbed a handful of floo powder. Maz turned and met his eyes. 

“Yes?” 

“You’re not alone in feeling the way you do. We’ve all had to do some awful things during this war, and anyone would be happy to talk through it with you.” Maz gave a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“Thanks, Gid.” With that, he was gone in a curtain of green flames and Maz was back on route to her bathroom. 

As she shed her clothing and threw it onto the bathroom floor, Maz studied herself in the mirror. A large bruise was blossoming on her abdomen, likely from one of the curses that had hit her during the fight. She made a mental note to apply some sort of salve to rid her body of the ugly reminder of the day she had just lived through. Leaves and twigs were nestled into her curls and she took great care while she pulled them free before getting into the shower. 

Standing under the hot water of her shower, Maz felt herself truly calming down for the first time since pulling her knife from Nigel Selwyn’s back. The tension headache that had been building up eased up some, and it felt like heaven. 

The problems didn’t start until she began the process of actually scrubbing herself clean. When she lathered the soap on her hands, the bubbles were a rusty red color. The blood of Nigel Selwyn. The sight made her stomach roll and she felt herself keeling over to empty what was left in her stomach. Sliding to the ground of the shower, she let the water pour down on her. The discomfort of that was nothing compared to the ache in her chest. 

Closing her eyes, Maz sunk to sit on the ground and tried to focus on anything other than Nigel Selwyn. She felt almost dizzy, her head spinning as she tried to force the sound of her knife piercing his flesh out of her mind. The sound of his last words being cut off so suddenly. 

_“_ _Avada_ _K-” And then silence._ _Nigel_ _Selwyn_ _fell to the ground, a few rapid gasps leaving him before he took his last breath._ _Blood blossomed around the wound, seeping into the grey cloak that he wore._ _The grip_ _Maz_ _had on the knife kept_ _Selwyn_ _in a kneeling position. Pressing a foot to his lower back for leverage, she tugged on the knife until it_ _came out into her hand._ _For a moment, she eyed the blood on the blade. And then she jumped into action, snatching_ _Selwyn’s_ _wand from his hand. It was much more rigid than her wand, but it wo_ _uld have to do for the time being._

Gasping, Maz pulled herself out of reliving the nightmare that that afternoon was. The water was hitting her uncomfortably hard, but any trace of blood had been rinsed off by it while she was in her trance-like state. Getting to her feet was a struggle – it felt like there was a weight on her shoulders, pressing her down. When she finally made it up, she carefully washed her hair before rushing out of the shower. All she had wanted since getting home was to go to bed. 

Mindlessly, Maz grabbed the wand that lay in her holster to charm her hair dry. But when she held it in her hand, she realized what his wand was. It was a representation of the life she had taken. A necessity when she had been battling to keep herself and her team alive, but a hurtful reminder of the heinous act she had been forced to commit. The wand dropped from her hand and she would have been vomiting again if she had anything left to do so. 

Without drying herself further, Maz hurried into her bedroom and climbed into the comfort of her bed. When she was under the covers, she reached for the bedside table and fumbled to find the Dreamless Sleep Potion she kept handy. If she neglected to take it, her dreams would surely have been filled with horrifying memories of the people she had killed over the last two years. 

As soon as the small dose of potion had been swallowed, Maz drifted into a peaceful sleep. It was much needed after a day that felt like it had dragged on for a week. 

\--- 

Maz spent the next day and night in bed, unconscious as much as possible. Gideon roused her from her sleep early Sunday afternoon, forcing her to eat something that he had prepared for her. If you asked her what that meal was, she could not tell you – she had eaten for the sake of eating, not taking a moment to enjoy it. 

By the time work rolled around on Monday, Maz felt like a zombie. All she wanted when her alarm woke her at the god-awful hour of eight AM was to stay in bed. The idea of getting up and going to work exhausted her, but she had a lot of paperwork from the Greece expedition to get to her boss as soon as possible. 

When she walked into her office, she was surprised to find a bouquet of flowers on her desk. Striding over to her desk, she snatched the note from the top of the arrangement to find out who had sent them. 

_Looking forward to dinner tonight. Miss you._

_xo,_ _Ev_

Maz let out an almighty groan, remember that she had rescheduled a date with her new girlfriend for that night. Evelyn and she had been seeing each other for about two months, and Maz had cancelled or rescheduled about fifty percent of their dates. This date had been rescheduled from Thursday night, given that she had been called away to Greece. Evelyn was delightfully understanding, but Maz could tell her patience was wearing thing. There was no way she could get out of this date without effectively ending their relationship. 

And Maz liked Evelyn – she was cute, funny, and incredibly patient. She never pried for information about Maz’s work or where she would disappear to on Tuesday nights or the occasional weekend. Evelyn was new to England, having grown up in America and gone to Ilvermony to learn magic. She worked for St. Mungo’s as a Healer and had treated Maz in the Emergency Department too many times to count. Eventually the young witch had asked Maz out and she had happily agreed. She did miss Evelyn’s ability to treat her wounds like no other – she was no longer allowed to treat her when she came in due to their relationship. 

Things with Evelyn were simple and easy. She didn’t know about the Order, and she didn’t ask. The pair went out to dinner occasionally, had pretty good sex, and watched movies in bed if they had the time. Maz knew that her and Evelyn weren’t a forever thing, but it was certainly nice to have a companion for the time being. 

All Maz wanted was to go home and get back into bed, but she would force herself to go on the date. They would get dinner and maybe go for a drink – she could still be home at a decent hour. It wouldn’t be that bad given that Evelyn was quite good company. She could survive an evening with her, even if she really, _really_ didn’t want to. 

Moving the flowers to the window of her office, Maz smiled at how thoughtful the woman was. Getting them _had_ brightened her mood just so, and for that she was grateful. Settling into her desk, Maz got to work for the day. A memo on her desk told her that her boss was expecting finished paperwork on his desk by three, the end of her workday. That amount of work in eight hours was doable, but she knew it would be time crunch. With a sigh, she started in on the work that Grier should have been doing. 

Idiot. 

\--- 

The end half of Maz’s day had been spent cataloguing the different treasures that she had recovered from the temple. It was her favorite part of coming home from an expedition - she got to run tests on all the items to figure out what sort of magic they held. Sometimes there were curses hidden within the items and she got to remove them. It was good practice outside of the field, which she did love. 

By the time it hit three PM, Maz was genuinely looking forward to dinner with Evelyn. They were meeting at an Italian restaurant called Maria’s just down the street from Gringotts around five. While the food was always good, Maz found the place a little bit too stiff and fancy for her. She hoped they would end up at the Muggle pub on Charing Cross Road, just across from the Leaky Cauldron. Generally, the place was free of anyone she knew, which made it preferable to anywhere in Diagon Alley. It was a good place to bring a date, though the Muggles weren’t quite as understanding as the wizarding world when her dates happened to be women. 

With the date in two hours, Maz realized that she had time to stop by Ollivander’s to see if she had any chance of repairing her wand. She knew that if he could, it would cost at least a quarter of her last pay. 

“Ah, Miss Carter. I’ve been expecting you.” Ollivander’s voice came the instant she stepped into the shop. Quirking a brow, Maz approached him where he stood at the counter. 

“And why is that?” She wondered aloud, unsure how the old wandmaker would know that she was going to be visiting. Ollivander’s eyes found Selwyn’s wand, which was strapped to her thigh. She loathed wearing the thing, but she needed some sort of protection in these times. Knowing that he was studying the wand made her nervous and she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. 

“I noticed you on your way to work this morning, carrying a wand that is not your own. That seems to be yew, while your wand is applewood.” Jesus. He really did remember every wand he had ever sold. 

“Yes, well. I’m hoping you’ll take a look at mine.” Maz avoided the subject of why she was carrying a Yew wand by pulling her broken wand from her work satchel. Ollivander gently took the wand from her hands, eyes now alight as he studied it. The unicorn hair core was the only thing keeping the wand attached. The man brushed his fingers along the splintered wood, frowning at the state of it. 

“This wand cannot be repaired, Miss Carter. It is too wounded. We will have to find you a new one.” Maz couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the news though she had known that this was the most likely outcome. The wand had been like an extension of her arm, doing everything that she wanted perfectly. But she supposed she had no choice and pushed the feelings of upset aside. 

“Alright. Let’s try some new ones.” 

\--- 

A half hour later, Maz left the shop with a nine-inch black walnut wand with a unicorn hair core. It seemed to feel better in her hands than her previous wand had, which was surprising to her. The wand had cost her the standard seven galleons which she had gladly handed over. Ollivander was a sweet man, and very talented. She appreciated the detail that he put into every wand he made. 

Maz hurried home to get herself ready. Though she preferred the comfort of her jeans and leather jacket, she chose to wear a sundress that she had bought on a work trip to Spain. The cut was flattering, and it was nice enough that she wouldn’t stick out at the restaurant. Though no one would say anything, she would certainly be judged if she showed up in casual wear. She was not fond of places like that, but Evelyn really enjoyed it. She could suffer through a meal if it made up for her cancelling their last two dates. 

The best part of her short time at home was tossing Selwyn’s wand into the drawer of her bedside table – she would need to hand it off to Dumbledore at the Order meeting the following night. When she tucked her new wand into the holster, she felt her mind settle some. The yew wand had been weighing on her, a reminder of a weekend she would rather not think of. 

Evelyn was waiting for Maz outside of the restaurant when she arrived. Maz thought to herself that the young Healer looked rather adorable in her sunny yellow dress, the bright color complimenting her warm brown complexion. The brunette flounced over, pressing a kiss to her cheek. 

“Hey Maz!” The girl was bubbly, instantly lacing her fingers through Maz’s and pulling her into the restaurant. 

“Hello, Ev.” Maz squeezed her hand and flashed her a smile. “I’m sorry that I’ve been unavailable lately.” Evelyn shrugged, trying to act like it hadn’t bothered her. 

“I get it. You’re a busy woman.” 

\--- 

Dinner was lovely, with Maz and Evelyn sharing a spectacularly made pizza and a slice of tiramisu for dessert. Evelyn caught Maz up on how things had been going at St. Mungo’s - she informed her that the Emergency Department had been flooded with individuals suffering the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse. This piqued Maz’s interest and she made a mental note to mention it to Dumbledore. Death Eaters were likely the cause of this, and if there was a noticeable increase in patients it should be mentioned to the Order. 

To her great pleasure, Evelyn agreed to grab a drink at the Muggle pub that Maz enjoyed so much. She had not been to the pub for some time, busy with order business and constant work trips. After the few days she had had, it would be nice to sip on a beer while in very good company. 

When they arrived, the pub had a few patrons sitting around the room, drinking quietly and chatting with their companions. Maz and Evelyn slid into a booth after ordering their drinks, lacing their hands together on top of the table. 

Everything was going great – the drinks were good, their conversation was flowing... And then _they_ walked. The stupid freaking Marauders along with Lily, and Marlene. Pettigrew was laughing loudly at something Sirius had just said, earning a glare from Lily. Maz snatched her hand out of Evelyn’s to shield her face from view. 

“Fucking hell.” Evelyn rose an eyebrow, looking to see what had Maz so worried. She spotted the group and perked up. 

“Oh, Remus is here!” Maz’s eyes could have popped out of her head with how hard they bugged. 

“How do you know Remus?” Maz demanded, trying harder to tilt her face away from the group. The last thing she wanted was their little posse crashing her date. Evelyn blanched, realizing what she had said. 

“Er, I don’t?” Translation: She had treated him at the hospital and could not tell Maz that because of confidentiality. 

“Yeah, yeah. I despise three out of the five people he’s with so don’t draw attention to us.” Evelyn’s smirk was devilish enough that Maz immediately knew what she was going to do. “No, Ev-” 

“Remus!” The young werewolf’s head shot to look at their table. Maz kept her face hidden, hoping they wouldn’t realize who she was. Apparently, Remus was keen on saying hello and his friends were curious about who this woman was, because soon they were crowded at the front of their table. 

“Healer Martin, hello!” Evelyn chuckled at his formality, waving a hand at him. 

“Please, call me Evelyn.” Maz heard Sirius clear her throat and then- 

“Hello, lovely Evelyn. And who might your beautiful friend be?” Maz clenched her fists and turned towards him, knowing that she could no longer avoid the group. 

“Girlfriend, actually.” She snarked, sneering at the way he had leaned against the table to try his best at being ‘charming’. Watching the jaws of each of the friends drop was honestly quite amusing, but that amusement was not worth the annoyance. The only people who didn’t look shocked by the revelation, were Marlene and Remus. James noticed this immediately, turning to confront them. Maz groaned, knowing this was about to be blown out proportion. Why did it matter who she dated? It’s not like it was their business at all. 

“Why do you two look it isn’t news that Maz is dating a _woman_?” James demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Do you have a fucking problem with that, Potter?” Maz questioned – the only thing that stopped her from standing to kick the shit out of him was Evelyn laying a hand on her arm. James’s eyes went wide and he started stumbling around his words. 

“N-No, I, I just thought it was something we would know given how small Hogwarts is?” Maz glared at him, effectively shutting him up. 

“How could you ever possibly think Maz is straight? I knew she wasn’t when I met her in first year.” Marlene scoffed, taking the liberty of sliding into the booth next to Maz. “Scooch down, I think we can all fit.” Maz slammed her forehead to the table, annoyed that this was becoming some sort of group hangout. She could not think of a group she wanted to hang out with less. Even Death Eaters would be better than these idiots. Begrudgingly, she obliged Marlene’s request to move though she kept her head down. 

“But you dated a bunch of guys when we were at school.” Peter commented, brows furrowed in confusion. Lily shot Peter an icy look before scooting into the booth next to James, who was next to Marlene. Maz was now effectively squished against the wall, desperate for an escape from the situation. 

“Honestly, Peter. Have you ever _heard_ of bisexuality?” Peter was about to open his mouth and comment that he did not, in fact, have any idea what that meant until he thought better of it. Maz would have jumped across the table and clobbered him if he made some sort of stupid comment, so his choice to stay silent was wise. Evelyn looked content to be squished against the wall on her side, with Remus, Peter, and Sirius piled in with her. 

“Stop talking about this. It’s obviously making Maz uncomfortable.” Remus spoke while flagging down a server so they could order drinks. Though Maz did not say anything, she was grateful for his intervention. She offered him a small smile which he returned. 

“So, you guys were friends with Maz at Hogwarts?” Evelyn asked, looking quite interested. 

“No.” Sirius and Maz answered at the same time, shooting glares at each other when they realized what happened. Evelyn reached overt to play with Maz’s curls, sending her a pleading look. Maz had not really let Evelyn in on her personal life beyond spending time with one another, so it was nice to meet people who knew her. 

“Maz was two years ahead of us at school and we were all in the same House.” Lily informed Evelyn, taking a hearty sip of her peach Bellini when it arrived. Seeing her do that reminded Maz of her own drink and she sat up to gulp down the rest of it. The server laughed, grabbing the empty glass with the promise of returning with a fresh one. 

“She was Quidditch Captain!” Marlene exclaimed, gently elbowing Maz. Evelyn looked surprised, not knowing this about her girlfriend. 

“Oh, really?” Evelyn directed the curiosity at her girlfriend but was answered instead by Sirius. 

“Yeah, and she was a bloody cu-“ A sharp elbow to the ribs from Remus cut off his offensive words, for which Maz was appreciative. She didn’t need to get into her issues with him in front of Evelyn. 

“Shall we do introductions then?” Evelyn piped up, trying to move beyond the obvious tension. It was clear that there was no way too avoid this. Maz would have to live with the fact that her girlfriend was too friendly and welcoming for her own damn good. The friends went around the table, introducing themselves. Sirius was, for some reason, still trying to charm Evelyn. This infuriated Maz, feeling rather possessive of her girlfriend when it came to stupid fucking Sirius Black. She reclaimed Evelyn’s hand, lacing their fingers together in plain sight. 

Sirius’s eyes zeroed in on the affection, narrowing his eyes at their hands. Before he could stop himself, idiotic words were tumbling out of his mouth. 

“So, Maz. I thought you and Gideon had something going with each other.” Immediately, Evelyn’s brow furrowed – she had never heard Maz talk about anyone named Gideon. Maz snorted at the questioned, finding the idea of her and Gideon as more than friends was amusing. 

“Then you’re obviously denser than I thought. Gideon is a friend and nothing more.” Evelyn relaxed a bit, but still looked a bit anxious. Maz smiled reassuringly at her and brought her hand to her mouth for a gentle kiss. Sirius seemed skeptical but chose not to comment further after the glares he had received from Lily and Marlene. 

After a few moments of unpleasant awkwardness, the conversations split up amongst the group. Lily made an effort to distract Sirius, starting up a conversation about their plans to visit the Potter house the next weekend. 

“So, how did you two meet?” Marlene questioned, angling herself towards the couple. Evelyn launched into the tale of Maz’s constant hospital visits, Marlene hanging on every word. Maz kept quiet, still uncomfortable with the dynamic of her girlfriend hanging out with these people. She was trying her best to pace herself with her drinks, not wanting to end up drunk. Drunkenness around Sirius Black wasn’t wise – she felt like she would start a fight with him. Evelyn didn’t need to see that. 

“Maz.” Remus’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she looked up at him. He seemed to have been studying her for some time, face etched with concern. When their eyes met, he offered her a soft smile. “Are you alright? After...” He trailed off, not having to expand on what he meant. Maz eyed Evelyn, making sure she wasn’t listening in. 

“Not really.” She said simply, trying her best to be discreet. She wasn’t sure why Remus even cared, it’s not like they were friends. “Your shoulder is doing better, then?” She asked out of courtesy, but also in an effort to shift the topic. 

“Yes. She fixed it up.” He nodded his head towards Evelyn, who was wrapped up in a conversation with Marlene about Ilvermony. Maz nodded and then focused her attention on the table in front of her. Remus’s intentions were good, but he had brought up the very thing she had been pushing out of her brain since early that morning. The familiar panic was caressing the edges of her mind, trying to drag her down. Marlene’s shoulder pressed against hers was becoming overwhelming and the buzz of noise around her made her feel like she was drowning. 

“I need to get home. Would you like to come Evelyn?” The words burst out of Maz – she was desperate to get out of the situation. Her words had cut Evelyn off causing some annoyance, but her face softened when she saw that Maz seemed anxious. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” 

\--- 

“God, she’s annoying.” Sirius bit out the moment that the pub door shut behind Evelyn and Maz. Five sets of eyes turned to the young man. 

“Don’t be rude, Sirius. Maz is really nice.” Marlene chastised her friend, kicking him gently under the table. Scoffing, Sirius could not believe that anyone could have a positive opinion of Maz. 

“She _killed_ someone this weekend. Stabbed him right in the neck with no second thoughts.” He said in a low whisper, making sure the Muggles didn’t overhear. 

“Sirius!” Remus scolded, turning to glare at his friend. The group had been shocked into silent, eagerly waiting for more details. 

“What? It’s true. She didn’t even seem upset afterwards. I’ve been having nightmares ever since.” Remus was upset that his friend was giving details that made Maz seem like she had made a bad choice. The reality was that Maz did what she had to do in the situation, and he couldn’t believe Sirius was ignoring that. 

“Maz did what she did because _you_ got distracted by Mulciber’s taunting. She saved your life, you idiot.” It wasn’t often that Remus got angry, but he was pissed. Why was Sirius so insistent on believing that everything Maz did was rooted in evil? Everything that he had seen that weekend was done only with the good of the wizarding world in mind. 

“She could have found another way! Tackled him or something. I bet she wanted to kill him.” Sirius argued, annoyed that Remus seemed to think Maz was some sort of savior. 

“Maybe! But he was halfway through casting a killing curse towards you and what she did stopped him. She saved you. And she didn’t enjoy it. Did you not notice how off she was tonight? I could smell anxiety all over her.” Sirius waved off the idea that Maz anxious. All he had seen was someone refusing to socialize with his friends, as a polite person would. “Besides, I asked her how she was and she said things haven’t been good.” Now this revelation surprised Sirius – she had admitted that she wasn’t okay to Remus. 

Could he be wrong about her? Could Maz actually have a conscience that was tearing her apart for what she had done? Sirius didn’t know but he honestly didn’t care enough to find out. 


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that this chapter took so long! I have been working a lot, applying to go back to school, and doing things for the holidays. This chapter is a touch shorter than I would have liked, but I will try to upload another very soon. I hope everyone had a great holiday!! Thanks for reading.

Sirius Black was mature in a lot of different ways. 

Since a young age, he had been taking care of himself (and often his brother, back when he lived with his family). As soon as he had left Hogwarts, he had moved into the flat his late uncle had left him and started fending for himself. He had a fierce protectiveness over all his friends, taking care of them in the best ways he knew how. Joining the Order had been an easy choice when Dumbledore had presented him with option, given his desire to protect those that could not protect themselves. 

Sirius Black, however, had a streak of pettiness that brought out a shocking level of immaturity. His friends had known this for a long time. His pettiness had almost gotten Snape killed by Remus when they were in school. But they had thought that he had mostly moved beyond this after that – their anger to that idiotic prank was enough to trigger quite a lot of personal growth for the young wizard. 

But no one could bring that pettiness out quite like Maz Carter. 

James, though he was not the biggest fan of Maz, was growing tired of Sirius’s constant bitching about the curse-breaker. Every time he spent any length of time with his best friend, all he could talk about was how _awful_ Maz was and how much he despised her. He swore there was not one conversation in the week since they had attended their first Order meeting that Sirius had not mentioned her. He had even tried goading James into pranking her for revenge, which he had refused in fear of Lily giving him the cold shoulder. 

James had been stuck next to Sirius on their walk to the Order meeting. Lily had insisted on walking with Marlene, and he could hear them giggling about something behind him. Though he loved his best friend, Sirius was starting to get on his nerves. 

“Can you believe that someone has found it possible to date _Maz_? She’s revolting! That Emily girl deserves better.” He complained, gesturing wildly as they made their way down the residential street. Marlene chose that moment to pipe up. 

“Her name was Evelyn, idiot. And stop talking about Maz. You’re like... obsessed with her.” She called to him from a few feet behind, snickering when he whipped around to face her. 

“I- I am not! I just hate her a lot!” Lily rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way so her and Marlene could walk past him. 

“You think you hate her. We all think that you _like_ her.” Lily informed him breezily as she brushed by, a near-haughty look on her face. Sirius stood dumbfounded, staring at Lily’s back. James stood with him, not wanting to leave their friend behind. A moment later, a stormy look came over Sirius’s face. 

“Oi, Evans!” He called, jogging after the redhead to chastise her for the ridiculous opinion. James sighed and began walking to catch up with his friend. 

It was going to be a long evening. 

\--- 

When the group arrived at headquarters, they let themselves inside to prepare for the meeting. Rather early, they were among the first to get there. On the main floor of the building was a small living room, which they decided to wait in until Remus and Peter arrived. Peter had been visiting with his mother, while Remus had been at a part-time job that he had picked up. 

“Shh!” Lily stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she swung the door to the living room open. Sirius, who had been detailing some recent escapade with an unnamed young witch to James, collided into her back. 

“C’mon, Lil-” His complaining was silenced by Marlene hushing him and smacking his arm. Before he could open his mouth to protest, she gestured for him to look at the couch. His gaze swiveled towards the plush velvet couch, where he found Maz passed out cold. Instantly, he was absorbed by his focus on her. 

On the couch, Maz’s frame was more noticeably tiny. With her big personality, she often seemed to take up more space than she actually did. Her body was curled into an odd position, though she seemed to be sleeping quite soundly. For the first time since he had known her, she looked to be at complete peace. Her face was relaxed, lips parted slightly with quiet snores passing through them. Without her usual scowl, she did look rather... pretty. 

Sirius caught himself thinking that and immediately pushed such a ridiculous thought out of his brain. Maz Carter was not _pretty._ Even if she was, which he didn’t think, her personality spoiled that. She was probably sleeping because she was tired from being so shitty all day. And how inconsiderate of her, thought Sirius, to take up the only comfortable room in all of headquarters. Didn’t she have her own house that she could be napping in? He glared at her, annoyed that she was cutting into the time he was spending with his friends before the meeting. 

As if sensing eyes on her, Maz jolted awake and sat up from her spot on the couch. Her eyes went wide when she realized there were four people staring at her. More than this, she was startled that she had even managed to fall asleep in such an odd spot. Originally, she had intended to rest her eyes so that the headache pounding in her skull would recede slightly before the meeting slightly. 

Somehow, Maz and Evelyn had ended up in a massive fight when they had arrived at her flat the evening before. Evelyn had started prying about her relationship with the Marauders, and why she had been so upset as they were leaving. Maz had, of course, refused to reveal anything and Evelyn had gotten extremely upset by this. She had left in a hurry, informing Maz that she needed to take some time to think about their relationship. Defeated, Maz had gone to take some sleeping draught to sleep away her upset, only to find that she was completely out. Unfortunately, this meant that she had been kept awake for most of the night. When she had finally fallen asleep, a nightmare had roused her awake. 

Needless to say, she was exhausted. 

“What the fuck are you guys looking at?” She grumbled, gracefully sliding to her feet and sneering at them. 

“Maz, are you alright?” Lily asked, taking two steps forward to place a hand on the woman’s arm. She had immediately noticed the bags under Maz’s eyes, and the sadness etched onto her face. Maz immediately jolted away from the touch as though she had been burned. With Lily still looking at her earnestly, Maz shifted in discomfort. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She mumbled before speeding out of the room to avoid further physical contact. Each of them stared at the place she had just disappeared from in mild confusion. In the years that the group had known Maz, they had never seen her so... off. The way she conducted herself did not generally falter – she was loud, confident, and generally confrontational. That day she seemed timid and broken, with no motivation to argue. Most thrown off by this change was Sirius. 

“That was weird.” He commented, sliding into one of the plush armchairs. Seeing Maz in such a state made him consider his thoughts from the night before. Could he have misjudged her? The last time he had seen her before the Order, he had been sixteen and even more stubborn than he currently was. That was the summer before he left home – there had been a lot of toxicity locked in his mind that he had not even been aware of. Was he carrying a grudge that did not have a place in his life anymore? Maybe he would have to reconsider his position on her. Maybe. 

\--- 

Standing before Dumbledore, Maz felt more anxious than she had in the past few days. When she had caught sight of him, she had scurried over and shoved Selwyn’s wand into his hands. Before she could turn and speed away, he fixed her with a look over his half-moon spectacles that rooted her in place. For a moment, he simply studied her face. And then- 

“You are not well this evening, Mazalina.” Crossing her arms over her midsection, Maz shrunk in on herself. She felt like Dumbledore could see every thought that she had had since Saturday evening, and she was not fond of it. His blue eyes pierced her as he tucked the wand she had given him away. 

“I’m just a bit tired.” She murmured, averting her eyes to look at the carpeted floor of the meeting room. As he began to speak, other members began filtering into the room. With a sad smile, Dumbledore clasped her arm. 

“We will talk later. There is much to discuss, I do believe.” Maz ducked away as soon as his attention was grabbed by someone else and hoped he would forget that he ever said that. She took her usual seat, praying that the meeting would be over quickly. She needed more sleep and was daydreaming about the newly purchased sleeping draught in her work satchel. 

Dumbledore began to prattle on about something or other. Maz tried her best to stay focused but spent a lot of the time trying not to doze off. His voice was just so calming, it was hard not to be lulled into what would be a peaceful sleep. Her attention was set solely on the wall across from her. Until she heard her name, that is. 

“Mazalina, Mr. Black.” Maz jumped when her name was spoken aloud. Her eyes jumped to Dumbledore, who was looking at a bit of parchment in his hands. From what she gathered, he was assigning tasks for the week. It did not bode well that he had just said her name and Sirius’s in the same breath. “You will be doing our Wednesday and Saturday evening patrols of Knockturn Alley, for the next month.” 

“What the hell?” Maz exclaimed, wondering what could have possessed the elderly man to partner them together. He _knew_ they did not get along. Who stood to benefit from them working together? When he fixed her with one of his stupid looks, Maz slouched down in defeat. There was no use arguing with him, at least not then. He had a plan for everything, and he would be impossible to sway. 

Maz cast her eyes towards Sirius, planning on exchanging a look of absolute disbelief. They may hate each other, but she was sure they could agree this was rather insane. Instead of finding him in a state of shock, she found him studying her with curiosity in his eyes. When he noticed her looking, his face quickly rearranged into a sneer. Maz looked away, wondering why on earth he was looking at her like that. He had never once expressed curiosity about her, and she was happy with that. Had something changed? 

\--- 

Sirius’s first instinct when he heard that he would be partnered with Maz was disgust, until he realized that he had just been handed a golden opportunity. This was his chance to figure out Maz Carter – the chance to prove to himself once and for all that she was not a good person. He had always believed that based on their relationship, but Remus, Lily and Marlene seemed to disagree. Working with her was not something that he would enjoy, but it could certainly be self-serving. 

Lost in his thoughts, Sirius did not notice that Peter was trying to get his attention. When James smacked his arm to knock him out of his stupor, he jumped. 

“Ow! What do you want, you fucking prat?” Sirius shoved his friend, refocusing his attention from Maz to the beer in front of him. James frowned, rubbing his arm where Sirius had pushed him. 

“Peter has said your name five times. What are you so distracted by?” Lily questioned, pressing a kiss to James’s hand as he whined about the alleged pain Sirius had caused him. HIs fussing was drawing the attention of a few nearby Muggles, so Remus hushed him from across the table. 

“Nothing. What, Wormtail?” He demanded of Peter, trying to avoid talking about his thoughts with Lily. Peter slumped into his seat, anxious due to Sirius’s aggressive tone. 

“I... I was just wondering what you were thinking about having to work with Maz.” He pressed himself further into the booth when Sirius glared at him. So much for avoiding that topic. Everyone at the table looked to him, eager to hear his thoughts. Remus was the only one who looked disinterested, his frustration at Sirius’s opinions of Maz beginning to boil over. Sure, they had had their differences at Hogwarts, but was that grounds for his friend to hate her? He didn’t think so. They were in the midst of a war – Sirius needed to prioritize getting along with members of the Order, in his opinion. 

“It’s a chance to prove that she’s a shitty person.” Sirius shrugged, deciding he did not care what they thought of his plan. Lily rolled her eyes, flicking his shoulder around James. 

“Or that she’s a good person.” Marlene piped up from next to Remus before taking a careful sip of her margarita. Sirius snorted, finding the mere idea of Maz Carter being a good person rather amusing. The only reason he was even entertaining the notion was the fact that Remus believed she was and he was the smartest person Sirius knew. 

“I doubt that.” He claimed, draining the pint in front of him. Remus huffed a sigh, fed up with Sirius’s slander for the girl he hoped to call friend soon. 

“Leave her alone, Sirius. Just go patrol with her and be done with it.” He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. Sirius looked taken aback at the icy tone. Remus was not normally so aggressive. 

“I need to know, Moony. I’m going to start a fake friendship with her and prove to you that she is the worst.” Remus gave Sirius an intense glare in response, before turning to discuss something with Marlene. 

Fate gave a small giggle, overjoyed to see everything falling into place. 

\--- 

Maz sat at the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, flanked by Minerva McGonagall and Hagrid. Ending up at the pub with them was not how she foresaw her evening going, but she would not complain about such good company. 

“Minerva, I haven’t a clue how to deal with Black. I can’t imagine that this is going to go well.” Maz complained, slamming back a glass of firewhisky that Tom had provided. McGonagall gave a wry smile, seeming to think back to the years of being terrorized by the Marauders. 

“Sirius Black has a lot he could learn from you. Albus partnered you together for a reason, Mazalina.” The stern witch informed her, voice uncharacteristically gentle. Hagrid nodded in agreement, already quite drunk from the various drinks Tom had served. 

“He is such a pain. How do I teach someone so stubborn?” McGonagall snorted, surprising Maz slightly. Minerva McGonagall was one of the most dignified women that she knew, and snorting was rather undignified. 

“It is rather funny that _you_ are asking that. You happen to be more stubborn than he is!” Maz was immediately offended by this. The idea that she was more stubborn than SIRIUS BLACK? Ridiculous. “Oh, relax. You are strong-willed. He is obnoxiously stubborn. There is a difference, you know.” Maz narrowed her eyes, but chose not to argue. She was just grateful to be drinking with her former teacher, always enjoying the woman’s strong personality. 

“Maz. ‘Ere’s what yeh do...” Hagrid spoke up but promptly trailed off when the room started spinning. McGonagall gave him an unamused look while Maz giggled quietly at his drunkenness. 

“You would be wise to develop a good relationship with Mr. Black. He does not respond well to authoritative personalities.” McGonagall informed her, taking a small sip of the mead in front of her. Maz groaned at the suggestion, not loving the idea of becoming friendly with Sirius. She was not his biggest fan, and she was unsure how she could hide that she felt that way enough to befriend him. 

“Professor McGonagall is right. Yeh’ve got ter learn ter deal with him.” Hagrid informed her in a moment of clarity, speech entirely slurred. It was hard to stay annoyed when Hagrid was as drunk as he was. 

“Fine, fine. I’ll _try._ But I certainly won’t learn to like him.” 


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry my updates are taking so long! I actually got a minor promotion at work last week so I have been insanely busy trying to figure everything out. It is very exciting stuff - I am now working in a COVID vaccination center! I promise that I will try to update quicker. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Charing Cross Road was busy, and Maz was uncomfortable.  She was leaning against the wall outside of the Leaky Cauldron, waiting for Sirius to show up. If one more Muggle bumped into her, she was going to snap. Her impatience was at an  all-time high that Wednesday evening, and she was ready to knock someone out. She was in no way ready to deal with the young wizard she was meeting , given his penchant for annoying her. Already annoyed at his  tardiness , she was sure that the evening would not get any better. 

“Hello, Maz!” Sirius’s voice came from her right, overly  cheery and enthusiastic. Maz cast him a look out of the side of her eyes, studying his fram e. He was dressed in a light summer robes, with a hood as she had  asked . A blood traitor and a  M uggleborn were sure to stand out in  Knockturn Alley,  so they had to blend in somehow.  Wearing nice robes with their hoods up was the best way to get through the night  unbothered .

“Why are you so happy?” Maz questioned as she tugged him into the Leaky Cauldron. The pub was quiet, only a few patrons seated around the room. Sirius shrugged at her question, tugging his hood up as they made their way toward the brick wall that  led to Diagon Alley. Maz followed suit, hiding her face beneath the sapphire blue velvet hood. 

“That is just how I am, Maz. Why’re you wearing such heavy robes?” He asked, eyeing the thick velvet that she was wrapped in. 

“Cooling charm. It’s the only  hooded  robes I own.” Spending money on robes that she rarely wore  seemed pointless to her, so she had adapted  them for hot weather .

“Oh, smart.” Sirius commented, not unwilling to acknowledge that the idea was smart. He had ended up borrowing the light summer robes from Jame s, who had plenty sets to share. Maz gave Sirius a look at his words, unsure why he was  being so upbeat and  seemingly friendly . It was confusing her – though she was prepared to try for a good relationship with him, she had not expected him to be so... open to it? 

“Yeah... So,  I’ll take the lead tonight and show you my usual route. I’ve been doing patrols of  Knockturn Alley since I joined the Order and know the area quite well.” Sirius nodded  amicably , though he did want to argue. His family had frequented  Knockturn Alley for years and he knew it like the back  of his hand. Regulus and he had explored every inch of the place while his parents were off buying different artifacts and décor for  Grimmauld Place.  But he would let Maz take the lead – he needed to see what she was like when he  wasn’t trying to antagonize her.  He could admit that he had a habit of bothering  her and would try to stop for the sake of his quest to prove she did, in fact, suck. 

“ Sounds good! ” Maz’s confusion deepened over how amicable Sirius was being ; it was suspicious, honestly. This was not the boy that she knew . What were his motives for being this way? She knew he would never interact with her in such a positive  way, unless it was  absolutely necess ary .  Though she was convinced he had some  sort of  ulterior motives, she decided to let it go for the time being. Feeling out  why he was being so nice was the smarter thing to do. Confronting him would be her preference, but it would not be  advantageous for her.  No, no... Figuring out what he was up to and then shutting it down was the best bet. 

The pair walked silently next to each other, reaching  Knockturn Alley quickly.  Maz led Sirius  toward a small  passageway next to  Borgin and Burke that gave entry to the less populated back lane of the Alley. All of the businesses tossed their garbage out into this area, but Maz knew that it was a desirable area for shady busin ess given how private it was.  Pulling her hood tighter around her face, Maz scurried forward with her new partner not far behind. 

\---

“Well, that was lame.” Sirius commented as the pair exited  Knockturn Alley around two  in the morning. Maz shrugged at the comment, leading him  away from the Alley and into a safer place for them. 

“Yes, well. Most nights are not that interesting. You got more action on your first mission than we will ever get doing patrols.” Sirius felt quiet at the mention of their trek into  Thetford Forest the weekend before. Maz noticed this and  immediately slowed herself down. 

“Why are we stopping?” Sirius hissed, wondering what Maz was playing at. Huffing a sigh, she pulled him into the closest  alley she could find. 

“Are you doing  alright ? After last weekend?” Maz demanded, shocked with herself  for taking the time to ask.  Since when did she give any shits about Sirius Black? Sirius was just as  surprised, staring at the  blonde like she had gone literally insane.  “Just answer the question.” Maz had become irritated with his surprised look after a mere few seconds. 

“I, er...  I’m alright . It was  really weird seeing somebody die like that. I saw my Great Aunt die when I was young, but she  really just withered away. Old bat.” What the fuck? Why was he telling her that? And why had he  actually opened up  to her about how he was feeling? She was not  his friend, and nowhere near any sort of confidant. Ins tead of laughing at him, Maz nodded sympathetically.

“ Seeing things like that... It never stops being upsetting. In war, we will be forced to do and see things we never could have imagined. Rely on your friends. They’ll keep you sane.” Maz offered Sirius an uncomfortable smile, loathing that she had just gotten vulnerable with him in any way. 

“I...  Alright . Er, are you okay after...it ?” Cringing as soon as the words left his mouth, Sirius fe lt like an idiot for asking her. As if she was going to tell him how she was feeling. There was no one he knew more closed off than Maz Carter – besides his  mother, perhaps . But Maz surprised him by giving him a very precise answer.

“No. I’m not. I  haven’t slept properly since that day. I’ve had several panic attacks.” Maz sucked in a breath, realizing how much she had just revealed. Scrambling to recover, she kept talking. “ Taking a life is not easy, or something you ever get used to. Anyone besides the Death Eaters would tell you that.” Cheeks stained red with her  embarrassment , Maz fidgeted with her fingers and tried to avoid meeting Sirius’s eyes.

“Maz-” Before he could respond to her, she was cursing at herself and pulling her wand out. 

“I need to go, sorry.” She apparated away, leaving Sirius standing alone in the narrow alleyway.  What the hell had just happened? Maz had been seeming genuinely human for that small mome nt in front of him, but then she was gone. And why had he let that conversation happen? Sure, he was trying to figure Maz out, but he  didn’t think that had to include  such deep (for Maz) conversations. 

And now he was confused – Maz had seemed genuinely torn up about killing Selwyn. This was an  oddity to him, considering he fully believed she had done it for kicks... But he could have been wrong.  Maybe he would have to get her talking more.  There was a lot to learn about the  young curse-breaker, and he was going to do it. 

\---

Maz appeared in her apartment, gasping for air.  Apparating when she had been so frustrated was a bad idea, and she was lucky nothing had gone wrong. 

What the fuck had she been thinking?  Opening up to Sirius Black was ridiculous – he hated  her, and she was sure he would use any information he could against her.  And why had it been so  easy to tell him how she was feeling? Evelyn had borderline ended their relationship two nights before because of her inability to share her feelings. She wondered if it was easier because she cared so l ittle about Sirius respecting her. 

Groaning, Maz tried to push the thoughts aside as she got herself ready for bed. It was late and she  was meant to be presenting research on a  shrine to  Venus the next afternoon.  Sleep was necessary, though she knew she could not do it on her  own. Reaching into her bedside table, she grabbed her  bottle of sleeping  draught to take a hearty  swig .  All she wanted was a dreamless sleep where she could forget the embarrassment of getting vulnerable with a man that she  literally despised . 

\---

The next two weeks passed by quickly, filled with huge work projects and  taking on Order missions. Maz was exhausted – her sleep had been  fitful . It seemed that even the sleeping  draught was not working as well  anymore, and she was unsure how to deal with that. Evelyn had pulled the trigger and ended their relationship for good over via owl, which had been an upsetting moment for Maz. Though she was disappointed, she almost felt relieved; it was hard dating someone who  could not know what she was doing in her spare time. She had to admit that she would miss the  companionship ... and the sex . 

When she was patrolling with Sirius, she had taken to keeping silent. She was slightly terrified that she would accidentally spill information that she did not want him knowing.  Sirius tried to make conversation, but she would only respond in short sentences.  The last thing she wanted was to reveal more to him, already having revealed too much. Sirius had tried several times to  broach serious topics, but she did everything she could to avoid engaging. 

The nights they had been out had been dead, no valuable information being discovered. They had overheard a conversation between Lucius Malfoy and Sirius’s  cousin Bellatrix, though the two were so discreet that nothing came of it. Their language was coded to an extent, so it was hard to interpret exact meanings. That pair was much wiser than Avery and  Mulciber , as well as some of the  other young Death Eaters. 

Sirius’s  cheery attitude had not faded, which was bizarre to Maz. She had figured that as soon as she  reverted to silence with him, he would do the same. But no, she had learned an awful lot about Sirius Black over the  four evenings they had had to patrol together. They had never spent time alone before, so she was shocked to find out how  _ chatty  _ he was.  It seemed that the boy was unable to shut up when it was not  absolutely necessary . The only time he  seemed to fall silent was when they were trying to be covert, or if they crossed paths with someone who would recognize his voice.

She hated to admit it, but she enjoyed the way that he talked about his life. He was, of course, incredibly dramatic (and annoying), but he really loved his life and the people in it.  The way he talked about his friends almost made her jealous – the relationships she kept were not  nearly as strong as his. The only constant in her life was her parents, but they lived in  Nottingham, so it was rare that she saw them. Though she enjoyed learning different things about him and his friends, she would never dare to voice that. Sirius Black was not, and would never be, her friend.  She simply enjoyed hearing him talk with no obligation to say much on her end. 

Sirius himself was confused by the dynamic that had developed between them. Maz was quiet, but he enjoyed hearing a  snort or seeing a  smirk when he said something that she found amusing. Those moments were  few and far  between , but he  found it satisfying, pulling emotion from such a cold person. He still  didn’t like her though – she was annoying as  always, and he still thought she was  probably a shitty person. He only talked to fill the hours that they spent together, especially since she had become mute since their first night on patrol. 

Speaking of, he was not sure what to make of her moment of vulnerability.  Never before had he seen  that type of emotion. Anger and disdain  w ere generally the only emotion he saw directed toward him . Well, unless it was after  a Quidditch win; when she got drunk at their house parties, she was friendly with anyone and everyone.  Back then, it was something that he very intentionally ignored. But seeing her look so broken up... it was odd. And he was not sure if it was some sort of deception; something done to convince him that she was  actually  guilty about killing Selwyn. 

Five minutes prior to their meeting time, Maz and Sirius ended up running into each other  outside of Gringotts. Maz was leaving work later than usual, having gotten caught up in a research project that her boss had assigned her. Sirius was leaving the flat of a girl that he was seein g, looking freshly fucked and blissed out. When Maz caught sight of him, he was in a heated embrace with a  short brunette woman. She almost  puked when she saw  his tongue brush against the woman’s. Not because it bothered her, of course. No, she was horrified that this woman was engaging in such a public act of affection with such a moron. She was cute and could  definitely land anyone she wanted. Why would she choose Sirius Black? Gross. 

“Maz!” Sirius noticed her the moment he pulled away from the  brunette , who was looking  rather dazed . Maz slowed herself down, waiting for him to come walk next to her. Sirius whispered something to the girl, who promptly blus hed and scurried back into her flat. Sirius caught up wit h Maz , a stupid grin gracing his face. When Maz made no effort to  actually acknowledge him (per usual), Sirius  started his typical chatting. “How are you today, Maz?” With a sigh, Maz shrugged as a response which pulled an eye roll from Sirius. “Nice.  I’m doing  _ excellent _ .  Abb y made sure of that. ” Maz made a face at his words, remembering the horrifying kiss that she had  witnessed only moments earlier . 

“Gross.” Sirius chuckled at her disgust, an emotion that was new to him from her. 

“Oh, come on. I know you  like sleeping around as much as I do.” Maz knew he was right, but she  wasn’t going to acknowledge that. Just because they had similar sex lives did not mean that his was not  disgusting. 

“Yeah, but I respect the women and men that I fuck.” Maz’s voice was uncharacteristically  prim , the look on her face extremely  haughty . Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, unamused by her assessment of his view on the girls he slept with. 

“I respect the women I sleep with!” Maz gave him a look that told him that she was unconvinced by the statement. “I do!” He insiste d, a frown gracing h is face when he realized  she thought so lowly of him. But then he realized – why did he care what  Mazalina Carter thought of him? Her opinion meant nothing to him. 

“Whatever.” They fell silent as they were walking into  Knockturn Alley,  trying t heir best to blend in. The  busiest hours of the day had passed, but there was still a steady crow d skulking about.  The pair had developed a solid routine for patrolling the Alley,  having found some  great places to gather intel.  Most of the Death Eaters were good at being conspicuous , but they had found many of their former classmates who had joined Voldemort were not. They could go sit in a bar for an hour and hear  plenty of boasting about new missions and plans. Maz was surprised by how idiotic they were, discussing such things in public settings. 

Entering those bars was always a risk,  the possibility of them being recognized high. So far, they had  avoided any confrontation due to the heavy drinking that took place in these bars.  By the time they got there, around eleven, everyone was good and drunk.  Lips were loose and focus was elsewhere. They could sit  inconspicuously and listen in on the conversations. 

For the first part of the night, though, they would patrol up and down the  different parts of  Knockturn Alley.  For the most part, they just  observed and reported back to the Order what known Death Eaters were getting up to. Because most of their activities happened behind  closed doors , it was mostly just keeping an eye out for major red flags. In all honesty, their time together would be boring if it  weren't for Sirius’s constant chatter.

“So, how are things with Evelyn?”  Perfect. He started out with the exact topic that Maz had hoped would not come up. 

“We broke up.” She hoped that being so blunt about it would kill the conversation for the rest of the night. Instead, S irius came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at her. Maz stopped with him, though she  kept her face hidden by her hood. Sirius touched her arm, which she  immediately pulled away with a glare shot towards the younger man.  When she found him looking at her, eyes full of sympathy, her anger turned to confusion. Why was he feeling sorry for her? He hated her. She would have figured that h e would be overjoyed to hear about their breakup. Especially since he had seemed so interested in Evelyn the evening that he met her. 

“I’m sorry, Carter. That’s hard.” Maz shrugged and started trekking forward, hoping that he would drop the subject.  Jogging to catch up, Sirius had to wrestle with his hood to keep it from falling off. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”  Against his desire to simply brush past this revelation ( after all, he  didn’t care about Maz), he did feel the need to  make sure she was okay. But only because she was his patrol partner and he needed to make sure she  wasn’t going to get him killed because she was distracted. Or something. 

“C’mon, Carter. You two seemed  solid.” He persisted despite the angry energy radiating  off of the small blonde. Maz stayed silent, graceful stride turning to more of a stomp. Sirius almost laugh ed at her fury, finding it hard to take  her seriously. She just looked so  _ tiny _ with that big winter cloak wrapped around her . If it  was anyone else, he would have called it  adorable . But it was Maz, so he did not (chose not to) acknowledge such a thing. “ Caaaaaaarter .”  Apparently, him whining her name was enough to push her over the edge. She stopped, shoving him into a side alley, much to his surprise. Before he knew it, he was cornered by the tiny girl.

“Stop calling me by name! You’re going to blow our cover, yo u moron.” Sirius thought this request was valid, but that she was being  rather dramatic about the whole thing. 

“If you wanted to get me alone, you could have just-” He cut himself off when Maz shoved his shoul der, a dissatisfied look on her face. 

“Will you shut up for the rest of the night if I tell you what happened?” Maz  snapped, frustration reaching a boiling point. If it got him off her back and gave her a night of peace, she would tell him whatever he wanted to know. When  he nodded eagerly, she rolled her eyes at his glee. Why was he so obsessed with knowing about her  life? She was beginning to think he was trying to befriend or some shit. “Evelyn broke up with me because of my inability to open up to her.  She met you guys at the bar and realized that people that I  don’t even like know more about me that she did. That bothered her , so she ended it. ” 

“Shi t, Carter , I-” Maz began walking away, ducking out of the narrow alley wit hout a word.  Sirius groaned and ran to catch up with her, her pace quicker than before. “I’m sorry that we helped bring the end of your relationship.” 

“It’s fine, Black .  _ I’m _ fine.  I  don’t need you to tell me how  _ sorry  _ you are about my breakup. I knew it  wouldn’t last with Evelyn. I date because  it’s nice to have company and a good fuck, but if  I'm being honest,  I’m used to being alone. And  I’m fine with it.  So, don’t look at me with so much pity in your eyes.”  Sirius frowned, wondering why exactly he was feeling so badly for the woman. He had never felt such a thing toward his former Quidditch coach – he had only ever felt contempt toward her. It was foreign, seeing her as human.  She was trying to act as though she were not at all bothered by the breakup, but Sirius could see hurt in her eyes. 

Shaking his head, Sirius  followed after her so that they could complete their patrol for the night. He had a lot to think about. 

\---

“Say, Marls?” The instant Marlene heard her name roll  off of Sirius’s tongue, she groaned aloud . When she turned to face him, the look he wore confirmed her suspicions. He wanted something. 

“Wha t do you want?” She asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at her friend. The small exchange had captured the attention of their friends, who turned from their own conversations to listen in on theirs. Sirius shifted nervously, having hoped to talk to Marlene about the topic without them. But he supposed  their weekly fa mily dinner was the wrong time and place for a private conversation. 

“I, er... Well, Maz and Evelyn broke up-” The room erupted in conversation, everyone surprised to hear the news. 

“When? Why?!” Lily demanded, far too invested in Maz’s happiness for someone who knew her so little. 

“And why did she tell  _ you _ ?” Marlene snorted at the thought of Maz  opening up to Sirius. Sirius shrugged but  didn’t reply, certain that the others would have some thing to say. 

“How’s your plot to prove she’s a bad person going?” James asked, small  smirk on his lips. When Lily  looked at him threateningly, he rearranged his face into an inquisitive stare toward Sirius. 

“Fine. I still think she’s the worst. ”  Sirius replied, glad that he had successfully dodged Lily’s curiosity about the breakup. “Anyway, Marlene –  I think she needs a friend so could you... I  don’t know. Hang out with her.” A  Cheshire cat smile spread across Marlene’s face and she leaned forward with intrigue. 

“You  _ like  _ her!” The group  burst into laughter and  started making stupid kissy faces toward  Siriu s. It took a few minutes for peace to return,  and only once Sirius had drawn his wand with the threat of hexing everyone in the room. 

“Padfoot, if you don’t like her, then why are you asking Marlene to be her friend?” Peter asked, unsure what the logic could be . Sirius fumbled for a moment, not exactly sure what to say. Why was he doing this?  It’s not like he cared about what happened to her. Sure, he could see she had a human side, but that did not mean she was good.  Then it dawned on him-

“I don’t want her distracted while  we’re patrolling!” His voice was too eager to have found this excuse. He leaned back and took a sip of his beer to seem a touch more casual. Marlene eyed him suspiciously but  ultimately nodded . 

“Fine. Lily and I will go over on Friday night. We’ll get her to hang out with us and talk about it. ” Lily, who had been distracted by James kissing along her neck, sat up straight with alarm. 

“I have a date with Jamie on Friday!”  In sync , Marlene and Sirius gagged at the use of her nickname for James. 

“Yes, well.  It’s cancelled. It’ll be you and your right hand on  Friday, Potter.” Snickering, Marlene dodged a kick from the messy haired boy across from her . 

“Fine. I _ would _ like to get to know Maz more, anyway.” Lily agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. James tucked an arm over her shou lder and she instantly relaxed into the touch.  Marlene rolled her eyes and then turned to face Sirius again. 

“But we’re doing this because we actually like her. Not because you asked.” Sirius nodded, satisfied tha t they would make sure she was  alright . 

Fate smirked, wondering  how on earth this idiot could deny that he wanted to befriend the  young blonde curse-breaker. 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi pals! So sorry this took SO LONG. I’ve been working like crazy and have been sick. I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think in the comments and if you are enjoying where I’m taking the story. I have a general layout planned in my head but there’s lots of ways to get there!!

When a knock came at her door around seven on Friday night, Maz was annoyed. Living in a Muggle apartment, she sometimes had solicitors bother her, but not usually so late. Drawing her wand, she inched quietly toward her door to look through the peephole. She was honestly expecting some weird Muggle trying to convert her to their religion. As she drew closer, she heard quiet arguing between two female voices.

Peeking out of the small hole in her door, she was surprised to find Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon standing there. What the absolute fuck were they doing outside of her apartment? How did they even know where she lived? Stupid fucking Sirius must have told them where she lived, which irked her beyond belief. It was rare that she shared her address with anyone, let alone people she didn’t even _like_.

“I’ll bet you a galleon she doesn’t even let us in, Marlene.” Lily hissed at the blonde stood next to her. Maz watched Marlene roll her eyes while she raised her hand to knock again.

“Lily’s bet is probably a safe one, McKinnon.” Maz called to the girls, almost laughing when the pair jumped in surprise. They turned their eyes toward the peephole, knowing that she was definitely watching them through it.

“We’re here to cheer you up! We heard you’re going through a breakup.” Lily informed her, smiling hopefully. Maz scowled, knowing that Sirius was to blame for this visit. Clearly, he could not keep his big mouth shut and had told his stupid friend group about the breakup. She made a mental not to throttle him the next time she saw him.

“I don’t know what Black told you, but I’m fine. Go home.” Lily and Marlene exchanged a look, which irked Maz more than anything else. She felt like they were trying to handle her and that was not a welcome thing.

“We brought food and a lot of alcohol. We don’t have to talk about Evelyn. We can just hangout.” Marlene spoke, holding up a bag of Chinese takeout and a bottle of firewhisky with a smirk. Maz cursed under her breath, a sucker for both of the things she had just flashed her. She could easily order her own food and go buy booze, but it was a lot easier to just let the girls in. How bad could hanging out with them be?

\---

As it turned out, spending time with Lily and Marlene in her home was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of Maz’s life.

The three women had finished their meals quickly and had been sitting in silence ever since. Maz was desperate to open the firewhisky but did not want to seem too eager. They and their little friends already pitied her or something, she didn’t need them thinking she was an alcoholic as well. In reality, she just really needs to take the edge of her anxiety off. Inviting people to spend time in her home was a very odd thing for her. Particular about the way things were, she was very picky about who she gave access to the space.

“So, Maz... How are... things?” Lily asked, giving a shy smile. The redhead looked very nervous to be sitting on Maz’s couch. Maz cleared her throat and shifted in her armchair. This was so bloody awkward, good god.

“Er, fine. I’ve been focused on work. I’ll be heading to Rome in mid-September to visit a shrine to Venus.” Marlene perked up at this, very fascinated by Maz’s work. Curse-breaking was something she had been interested in since she had read the flyer Gringotts gave out to seventh year students. A career had not been a priority since she had joined the Order, though she had daydreamed about what life would be like after they defeated Voldemort. Lily told her that she was destined to be an actress in Muggle television and movies because of her flare for the dramatics. Marlene thought that didn’t sound half bad, but she really thirsted for adventure. The few times that she had gotten caught up in combat with Death Eaters had been thrilling for her. She thought being an Auror or a curse breaker sounded fascinating.

“How often do you travel for work?” Marlene asked, wanting to know more about Maz’s career. Maz shrugged, settling into her chair a little more. Work was something she enjoyed talking about – there was nothing deeply personal about the topic. She knew exactly what to say to each question, no risk in spilling something she did not mean to. Perhaps this could become a less awkward evening after all.

“Fairly often. If we weren’t in the middle of a war, I would be stationed somewhere long-term. Right now, I travel wherever I am needed.” Lily looked just as interested as Marlene, eyes alight with curiosity.

“What’s the coolest curse that you’ve come across?” Lily asked as Marlene leaned forward to crack open the bottle of firewhisky. Maz gave a private sigh of relief when she saw the blonde pouring out glasses of the liquor for each of them.

“Er, I’ve come across a lot. Disgusting cool or interesting cool?” Maz asked, thinking back to the most notable curses she had broken.

“Both.” Lily informed her before taking a sip from the glass that Marlene had handed her.

“Well, there was one in a Mayan temple that turns a person inside out if they step across the threshold of a temple. And interesting... There was one at a small Greek temple for Atë that essentially cursed a person with endless childish pranks. Think whoopie cushions and shoelaces being tied together.” Greek mythology was where Maz’s expertise was. It was why she had been sent to Greece when Grier had gotten his hand chopped off – next to him, she knew the most about the curses that were found in those parts.

“It... turned people inside out? Aren’t you terrified going into these temples that you’ll end up flayed or something?” Lily had gone a shade paler while Marlene was looking more and more interested. Maz waved off her fear, throwing back the rest of her drink. Pacing herself when she was anxious was not exactly her strong suit. Marlene leaned forward with the bottle in hand to pour more out for her.

“Never. I was trained by some very talented curse-breakers. I’m fluent in all of the runes that I could possibly find in these temples. Sometimes it takes a bit to figure out what will break the curses, but I’ve never had a major misstep. I did get cursed to make pig noises any time I opened my mouth in training, though.” Lily and Marlene dissolved into giggles at this. The thought of Maz Carter oinking any time she tried to say something was rather amusing – the woman was always so serious, it was hard to picture such a thing.

Within the hour, the girls were sufficiently drunk. Maz was more relaxed than the two women had ever seen her, and she was proving to be a rather good time. When she turned on her record player, they were surprised to recognize most of the music that came on. Fleetwood Mac, The Allman Brothers, Queen, The Beatles. It was all music that Sirius blasted during their get togethers, refusing to let any of them play the music that they wanted. He insisted that each of them had subpar taste in music and didn’t want them to “kill the vibes”.

“So, what happened with you and Evelyn?” The words slipped out of Lily’s mouth before Marlene could tackle her to the floor. They had been having such a great time – Maz was even smiling a _real_ smile, which was something neither of them had seen unless she had just won a Quidditch match. When Maz did not immediately kick them out at Lily’s question, Marlene was surprised. Instead of that, the woman waved her hand dismissively.

“I liked Evelyn, but she was not my soulmate. Not like Evans and the Potter idiot. I’m fine.” Lily blushed deeply at this, immediately moving to try to scrub the red from her cheeks. So, she had been telling the truth to Sirius – she was fine. She was drunk enough that lying would not cross her mind, so the girls knew she was being honest. Maz looked thoughtful for a moment and then smirked. “I will miss the sex though.” Marlene cackled at this, her drink sloshing with her movements.

“Are you seeing anybody new?” Marlene asked once she had calmed herself down, licking the line of fire whisky that was trailing down the side of her hand.

“No. The only people I see these days are Order members and it isn’t exactly the best place to find a date. No offense, Marlene. You’re hot, but not my type.” Maz slouched in her chair, thinking about the fact that she hadn’t gotten laid in nearly a month. It was the longest she had gone without sex in ages. It wouldn’t be long before she sprained her wrist or something from all of her… alone time.

“No offense taken. We’re both subs. It would never work.” Marlene commented, a grin spreading across her face when Maz shot up straight in her seat. Lily’s full attention had been captured by the words as well.

“In what world is Maz submissive? There is literally no way I could see her letting someone have control over her.” It was Max’s turn to blush an almost beet red, unsure how Marlene had so confidently read her.

“Bad bitches like getting fucked until they can’t remember their name! Giving up control feels _nice_.” Lily rolled her eyes as though she didn’t believe a word Marlene was saying but stopped when she saw the embarrassed expression Maz wore.

“Wait! Is she right?” Lily exclaimed, scurrying so she was kneeling on the couch with an eager look aimed at Maz 

“Of course, I am.” A snort left Marlene, which turned to a grunt when Lily shoved her. She was eager to hear what Maz would say. Though the logical side of Maz was screaming to keep her mouth shut, she couldn’t help but spill.

“Evans, there is nothing better than being pinned down and fucked until my legs literally lose function. If the option is there, I’m not topping. It’s way more fun to let someone else take the lead.” Nibbling her bottom lip, Lily looked thoughtful.

“I’m always the submissive one with Jamie.” She confessed after a moment, looking surprised at herself. Lily Evans was no prude, but she certainly did not share much about her sex life.

“You’re joking! Evans, you should be dominating the fuck out of that guy! He’s absolutely enchanted by you. He would do literally anything you asked.” The idea that Lily was submissive in their sex life was baffling to Maz _and_ Marlene. Because she talked about her sex life so rarely, Marlene was hearing this for the first time.

“I don’t know! I just thought that’s what was typical. I never really thought to try anything else.” Maz slammed her glass on her table and stood up very abruptly. And then she was running/stumbling toward her bedroom. In seconds, they could hear her rustling through something and cursing under her breath.

“What the hell are you doing?” Marlene called out, craning her neck to sneak a peek while attempting to pour herself another cup of liquor. When Maz stumbled out with a pair of fuzzy handcuffs and a blindfold in her hands, Lily spit out the mouthful of fire whisky she had just sipped. With a giggle, Maz skipped over and plopped them onto Lily’s lap, who looked at them as if they were going to poison her.

“Evans, it sounds like you and Potter are having much more vanilla sex than you deserve. Of course, sex like that can be great but I’ll _bet_ you’ve got a secret freaky side.” Marlene snatched the cuffs off of Lily’s lap and held them up for inspection. The pink fuzz that lined the cuffs did not seem particularly on brand for the typically stoic girl before them. As if reading her mind, Maz snickered and spoke up. “An ex bought them for me, but I found that I preferred rope. Those were used once. Keep them.”

“Lil, you’ve got to use these on James. Tomorrow, once you’re sober. He won’t know what hit him!” Lily’s blush had crept down her neck, but her eyes were lit with curiosity. Maybe she would take control when they inevitably had sex the following morning… if she still felt as confident as she was with Maz and Marlene was egging her on.

“I’ll have to think about it!” Lily giggled, pulling the cuffs back from Marlene with a goofy grin gracing her face. Maz cheered at this but promptly quieted when she realized Marlene had just poured out the rest of the firewhisky.

“Mead, anyone?”

—

Around two in the morning, Sirius was woken up by a panicked James Potter banging on the door of his flat. His friend was shouting incoherently, knowing Sirius was near impossible to wake up without a lot of noise.

Grumbling as he dragged himself the door, Sirius wondered what could possibly possess the man to wake him up at such an hour. Someone had better be dead or dying for him to show up so unexpected. Only cracking the door an inch, Sirius peaked outside and was barely able to see given the sleep in his eyes.

“What?” James was leaning against the door frame, out of breath and looking quite flushed.

“Lily hasn’t come home yet and I’m starting to get worried! What if Maz did something?” Okay, Sirius could admit that he was a rather dramatic person. But James was being laughably ridiculous- as if Maz would ever do something to harm Lily or Marlene. They were the only two people she seemed to tolerate among their friend group.

“You’re an idiot. Go home and go to sleep. They’re probably just hanging out.” Sirius moved to close the door, grunting when James pushed his way inside. Gods, he loved James Potter, but he could really be an annoying prat. After shutting the door and turning the lock, Sirius turned to find James pacing across the length of his living room.

“You know where she lives. Take me there.” James demanded, stopping his pacing to grasp Sirius by the shoulders. Pushing his friend off of him, Sirius strutted toward his bedroom to grab his wand. He had no intentions of bringing James to Maz (as he didn’t have a death wish), but he felt anxious being without it.

“Prongs, I’m not just going to show up at Maz’s house in the middle of the night. What if Lily’s just gone to spend the night at Marlene’s?” James frowned, considering the possibility that he was over-reacting.

“No. Lily would have sent a patronus if she had decided to spend the night somewhere other than the house.” All Sirius wanted was to return to his warm bed. Bringing to Max’s apartment would get him off his back, but it wasn’t really worth it given how angry the blonde would be.

“What if she had been drinking? Or just forgot? It’s not impossible.” James turned to look at Sirius, momentarily cutting off his panic. Instead, his face was one of surprise and confusion.

“Since when do you trust Maz? If I had come to you like this a month ago, you would have instantly thought she had done something.” Mouth dropping open at the words, Sirius tried to think of some sort of witty reply. Instead, all that came out was a-

“What? No- shut up! I don’t trust her. She’s just… well, she’s an Order member! She wouldn’t do anything crazy to Lily or Marlene!” Arms crossed over his chest, James looked skeptical at the words. Obviously, Sirius was starting to see a different side to Maz. When he noticed James’s expression, Sirius was willing to do anything to get him off his back. “Fine! Christ, we’ll go then. We’re apparating.” Grabbing James’s arm, Sirius raised his wand until they disappeared from his apartment with a loud crack.

Only to appear in the most bizarre scene that the young men had ever laid their eyes on.

Marlene was sprawled across the carpeted floor, blonde curls spread around her wildly. Her eyes were shut but she was giggling loudly where she was, gesturing her hands with no particular rhythm. This was not necessarily odd. When Marlene drank, she started out full of energy and too much excitement! Toward the end of the night, she lost the ability to function normally but still held the same level of enthusiasm as always. Definitely not weird to see her laying across the ground.

No, no. The curious scene was one being literally performed by Lily and Maz. Lily, though she drank, was never one to get quite a sloppy as Marlene. They had only seen Maz drunk after Quidditch matches and she could usually be found snogging someone in a dark corner. She was known to smile more when under the influence, but still kept a certain level of control over herself.

But it seemed that both women had completely let loose and drank _a lot._ Arguably, too much.

For both women were stood back to back in front of the fireplace, and they were _singing._ Loudly. Both were holding their wands near their mouths, having cast a voice amplifying charm. This was a shocking sight in and of itself, especially when it came to Maz. But what they were singing was much more surprising. A record player in the corner was at top volume, blaring Dancing Queen by ABBA and Maz was hollering each lyric perfectly.

Now, James was familiar with a lot of Muggle music because of Lily but this was completely foreign to him. Sirius, however, had dated a Muggleborn that had been _obsessed_ with ABBA. And he couldn’t blame her, they were a supremely talented band. But the idea that _Maz Carter_ liked their music enough to own a record by them was baffling for some reason. It seems way too upbeat and peppy for someone so cold and antisocial.

But Maz was anything but cold and antisocial at that moment. She was giggling and spinning around the room with Lily, both enjoying themselves more than either girl had anticipated for the night. Maz and Lily had somehow ended up in ball gowns, something that confused the boys to no end. Where on earth would they have gotten dresses like those?

“What the hell?” James voiced their shared confusion first, eyes focused solely on his girlfriend. Lily was wearing a light blue ball gown, looking quite radiant in the color. Sirius barely noticed this, eyes trained on Maz – the blonde wore a deep red gown that hugged her torso tightly before flaring into a large skirt that had to span at least five feet. She looked rather incredible, the dress complimenting her figure as though it was handcrafted by the gods just for her.

Both girls came to an abrupt halt when James spoke, but exchanged a look and promptly collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles. Closing his mouth to avoid being questioned on his stunned look, Sirius studied the scene before him. James was right- what the hell? If Maz had found them in her apartment without her explicit instruction any other time, they would have found themselves on the receiving end of a gnarly curse.

“What’re you guys doing here?” Maz asked, hiccoughing as soon as the words had left her. Lily and she dissolved into another fit of laughter.

“I was worried that Lily hasn’t come home yet.” James explained, moving to crouch before his very intoxicated girlfriend. The redhead gave him a hazy smile and tried to pat his cheek but missed his face entirely and simply swatted above his head.

“Why worried, Potter? Afraid I’m gonna steal your woman?” Maz snickered, trying to clammer to her feet unsuccessfully. In the end, she ended up slouched against the couch.

“She could do it, y’know!” Marlene piped up suddenly, lurching herself into a sitting position. “Maz is much prettier than you, James.” All three women cackled at this, disregarding the frown on James’s face. Sirius smirked mildly, rather enjoying the teasing his best friend was facing from the drunk women.

“Why’re you here, Sirius Black?” Maz asked, reaching for a glass of mead that was on the coffee table in front of her. When she raised it to her mouth, Sirius swooped over to pull the cup from her grasp.

“No, you don’t. You seem sufficiently drunk to me, Carter.” Maz stuck her tongue out at him, before her head fell back against the couch.

“You didn’t answer.” She grumbled, eyes flitting shut as she got herself comfortable on the floor.

“James woke me up and demanded I take him here.” Sirius spoke, using his wand to send all of the used dishes toward the kitchen. James was trying to coerce Lily toward the bathroom to help her change back into her own clothing. “Where on earth did you get ball gowns?” He asked, taking a seat in the armchair nearby.

“My mother throws all these fundraising balls and makes me go. Turns me into a ‘proper lady’.” Her accent turned very posh at the last words and Sirius almost laughed. It was odd to think of Maz as someone who came from a ‘high society’ background. Having grown up with parents who were the wizarding world equivalent to Muggle aristocrats, he knew plenty of women from high status families. Most of them were insufferable, raised to be prim and proper with a sense arrogance due to their lineage. Maz was much rougher than those women, especially in the work that she did for Gringotts. She was definitely insufferable, but only because she was bossy and not overly concerned with niceties.

“I’m not sure anyone could make a proper lady out of you, Carter.” The boisterous laugh that left her mouth at his words made him jump. She lightly smacked his shoulder as though they were lifelong friends joking around.

“You are rather funny, Sirius Black. And handsome. But don’t tell Sirius I said that because he would never let me live it down.” Sirius snorted, amused by her extreme intoxication. When James had woke him up, he had not expected to get such a confession from Maz. She had never given any indication that she found him remotely attractive, but she was the type to keep a lot to herself.

“I won’t tell him, I promise.” Sirius informed her, moving to try to help her to her feet.

“I’m gonna tell him!” Marlene boasted, pointing at Maz from her place a few feet away.

“No! We’re friends now, Marlene! You can’t betray me like that.” Maz groaned out, frowning at the woman who had laid back down on the floor. Sirius chuckled, wondering why Maz was so much more tolerable when she was absolutely shitfaced. He had never seen her talk so much, and especially not laugh like she was.

“This one spent the entire time in there trying to corner me and feel me up.” James exited the bathroom with Lily, who was now in her own clothing. Ever the gentleman, James brought the dress into Maz’s bedroom and laid it over her desk chair. Marlene and Maz inexplicably cheered at this, each babbling incoherently about Lily’s actions.

“Evans, don’t forget the, uh... the...” Maz trailed off, seeming to forget exactly what she was talking about. Marlene snapped and pointed toward the couch.

“The cuffs and the eyefold! No, wait. The, er, blindfold!” Maz, now on her feet thanks to Sirius, giggled and snatched the items off of the couch. She stumbled over to the couple, shoving them into Lily’s waiting hands.

“What the hell?” It seemed to be the question of the evening. James was eyeing the cuffs and blindfold with skepticism.

“Looks like your lady wants to spice things up, Prongs. Guess you’re gonna have to cuff her.” Lily shook her head vigorously, wagging a finger toward Sirius.

“No. Nope! I want to cuff _him_. It’s _my_ turn to be in charge.” In an instant, James’s faced had turned as red as the dress that Maz was wearing. Lily slapped hands with Maz, snickering at the nervous anticipation that James was emanating. Despite his clear anxiety, he did look interested in the idea.

“I am going to forget that I ever heard that.” Sirius informed his friend who gave him a grateful look.

“I’m going to bring Marlene home with Lily and me. She’s too drunk to get home herself. You can head home.” Sirius nodded, watching as James helped Marlene up to lead both women to the fireplace. He was right to travel by floo- both girls were far too intoxicated to travel safely by apparition.

“I’ll see you on Sunday.” James nodded, knowing that Sirius was coming to lunch with him at his parents' house that afternoon. With that, he was corralling the women into the fireplace with him and then - “Potter-Evans home!”

“Pssssst.” Maz whispered, falling back onto the couch. Sirius studied her, not sure how to respond to this new and very bizarre turn of events. Being alone with Maz in her apartment was very peculiar, especially when she was not actively trying to fight with him. “I have a secret.” Sighing, Sirius grabbed her hands and hoisted her back to her feet.

“What’s that?” He asked, letting her rest against him as he guided her toward her room.

"I wanted to fuuuuuuuck you in my seventh year.” Almost choking on his own saliva, Sirius paused to look down at the blond who was leaned up against him. She was grinning up at him, looking happier than he had ever seen her.

“What?” He asked, eyes wide with surprise. She nodded, trying to force him to keep walking to her room.

“Mhm. You got hot after you turned sixteen. Seventeen-year-old me was hot for you. Only reason I didn’t try is because I hated you so much.” She was giggling again, pushing him away as she stumbled toward her bed. “I’m tired. Go away.” And regular Maz was back. Sirius shut the door to her room, trying not to laugh at the sight of her sprawled across her bed in such a large dress.

Quickly, Sirius apparated back to his own apartment. Five minutes prior, he would have collapsed into his own bed to sleep without a single thought. But Maz’s revelation was echoing through his head. He hated to be self-congratulating, but Sirius was usually very good at picking up on if someone was attracted to him (and it was more often than not, not to brag). But he had never once gotten the vibe that Maz wanted him in any way, _at all_. All he’d ever gotten was the usual hostility and indifference to his existence.

If he was being honest, Sirius could admit that he found Maz rather attractive. With the tattoos, leather jacket, and love of danger, she was exactly the type of girl he would be attracted to on first impression. Her personality and entire attitude had pushed that attraction right out of his head, especially when she was so demanding of him. He didn’t handle being ordered around, and she happened to be an expert at doing exactly that. But he had to admit... she was absolutely bangable and he did not hate the idea of hooking up with her.

Sighing, Sirius pushed the thoughts from his brain while he tucked himself back into bed. Maz may have been attracted to him back at Hogwarts, but a lot had changed since then. And besides, he wasn’t the biggest fan of her. She might not be _as_ bad as he thought but she still sucked and he didn’t think he would change his option on that.

Fate rolled her eyes, wondering how the idiot could get so close to figuring his shit out and then veering in the exact wrong direction. Such a fool.


End file.
